LIBRARY 


°r 
Tj 


REAL 
GHOST  STORIES 

Collected  and   Edited 

BY 

WILLIAM    T.    STEAD 


NEW    EDITION 

Re-arranged  and  Introduced 

BY 

ESTELLE  W.  STEAD 


NEW  YORK: 

GEORGE    H.    DORAN    COMPANY 

1921 


RY 


E 

. 


INTRODUCTION. 


DURING  the  last  few  years  I  have  been  urged 
by  people  in  all  parts  of  the  world  to  re-issue  some 
of  the  wonderful  stories  of  genuine  psychic  ex- 
periences collected  by  my  Father  several  years 
ago. 

These  stories  were  published  by  him  in  two 
volumes  in  1891-92  ;  the  first,  entitled  Real  Ghost 
Stories,  created  so  much  interest  and  brought  in  so 
large  a  number  of  other  stories  of  genuine  ex- 
periences that  the  first  volume  was  soon  followed 
by  a  second,  entitled  More  Ghost  Stories. 

The  contents  of  the  two  volumes,  slightly  cur- 
tailed, were,  a  few  years  later,  brought  out  as  one 
book  ;  but  the  three  volumes  have  long  been  out 
of  print  and  are  practically  unknown  to  the  present 
generation. 

I  remember  when  I  was  a  child  my  Father 
read  some  of  these  stories  aloud  to  us  as  he  was 
making  his  collection ;  and  I  remember,  too, 
how  thrilled  and  awed  we  were,  and  how  at  times 
they  brought  a  creepy  feeling  when  at  night  I  had 
to  mount  many  flights  of  stairs  to  my  bedroom  at 
the  top  of  the  house. 

Reading  these  stories  again,  after  many  years' 
study  of  the  subject,  I  have  realised  what  a  wealth 
of  interesting  facts  my  Father  had  gathered 
together,  and  that  not  only  the  gathered  facts, 
but  his  own  contributions,  his  chapter  on  "  The 

680690 


vi.  INTRODUCTION 

Ghost  That  Dwelleth  in  Each  One  of  Us  "  and 
his  comments  on  the  stories,  show  what  an  insight 
he  had  into  and  what  an  understanding  he  had 
of  this  vast  and  wonderful  subject. 

I  felt  as  I  read  that  those  who  urged  re-publica- 
tion were  right,  that  if  not  a  "  classic,"  as  some 
have  called  it,  it  at  least  merits  a  place  on  the 
shelves  of  all  who  study  psychic  literature  and 
are  interested  in  psychic  experiences. 

I  demurred  long  as  to  whether  I  should  change 
the  title.  The  word  "  Ghost "  has  to  a  great 
extent  in  modern  times  lost  its  true  meaning  to  the 
majority  and  is  generally  associated  in  many 
minds  with  something  uncanny — with  haunted 
houses  and  weird  apparitions  filling  with  terror 
those  who  come  into  contact  with  them. 

"  Stories  from  the  Borderland,"  "  Psychic  Ex- 
periences," were  among  the  titles  which  suggested 
themselves  to  me  ;  but  in  the  end  I  decided  to 
keep  the  old  title,  and  in  so  doing  help  to  bring  the 
word  "  ghost "  back  to  its  proper  and  true  place 
and  meaning. 

"  Ghost,"  according  to  the  dictionary,  means 
"  the  soul  of  man  ;  the  soul  of  a  deceased  person  ; 
the  soul  or  spirit  separate  from  the  body  ;  appari- 
tion, spectre,  shadow  "  : — it  comprises,  in  fact, 
all  we  mean  when  we  think  or  speak  of  "  Spirit." 
We  still  say  "  The  Holy  Ghost  "  as  naturally  and 
as  reverently  as  we  say  "  The  Holy  Spirit."  So 
for  the  sake  of  the  word  itself,  and  because  it 
covers  everything  we  speak  of  as  Spirit  to-day ; 
these  two  considerations  take  away  all  reason 
why  the  word  should  not  be  used,  and  it  gives 


INTRODUCTION  vii. 

me  great  pleasure  in  re-issuing  these  stones  to 
carry  on  the  title  originally  chosen  by  my  Father. 

There  is  a  large  collection  of  stories  to  be  drawn 
upon,  for  besides  those  given  in  the  two  volumes 
mentioned,  many  of  equal  interest  and  value 
appeared  in  Borderland,  a  psychic  quarterly  edited 
and  published  by  my  Father  for  a  period  of  four 
years  in  the  nineties  and  now  long  out  of  print. 

If  this  first  volume  proves  that  those  who  advised 
me  were  right  in  thinking  that  these  experiences 
will  be  a  valuable  addition  to  psychic  literature, 
I  propose  to  bring  out  two  further  volumes  of 
stories  from  my  Father's  collection,  and  I  hope 
to  add  to  these  a  volume  of  stories  of  a  later  date, 
of  which  I  already  have  a  goodly  store.  For 
this  purpose  I  invite  those  who  have  had  ex- 
periences which  they  consider  will  be  of  interest 
and  value  for  such  a  collection,  to  send  them  to  me 
so  that,  if  suitable  and  appropriate,  they  may  be 
placedfon  record. 

In  bringing  this  Introduction  to  a  close  I  should 
like  to  quote  what  my  Father  wrote  in  his  Preface 
to  the  last  edition  published  by  him,  as  it  em- 
bodies what  many  people  are  realising  to-day. 
To  them,  as  to  him,  the  reality  of  the  "  Invisibles  " 
is  no  longer  a  speculation.  Therefore  I  feel  that 
these  thoughts  of  his  should  have  a  place  in  this 
new  edition  of  his  collection  of  Real  Ghost  Stories. 

"  The  reality,"  he  wrote,  "  of  the  Invisibles  has 
long  since  ceased  to  be  for  me  a  matter  of  specula- 
tion. It  is  one  of  the  things  about  which  I  feel 
as  certain  as  I  do,  for  instance,  of  the  existence  of 
the  people  of  Tierra  del  Fuego  ;  and  while  it  is 


viii.  INTRODUCTION 

of  no  importance  to  me  to  know  that  Tierra  del 
Fuego  is  inhabited,  it  is  of  vital  importance  to  know 
that  the  spirits  of  the  departed,  and  also  of  those 
still  occupying  for  a  time  the  moveable  biped 
telephone  which  we  call  our  body,  can,  and  given 
the  right  conditions  do,  communicate  with  the 
physical  unconsciousness  of  the  man  in  the  street. 
It  is  a  fact  which  properly  apprehended  would  go 
far  to  remedy  some  of  the  worst  evils  from  which 
we  have  to  complain.  For  our  conception  of  life 
has  got  out  of  form,  owing  to  our  constant  habit 
of  mistaking  a  part  for  the  whole,  and  everything 
looks  awry/' 


BANK  BUILDINGS, 

KlNGSWAY,   lyONDON,   W.C.2. 

Easter,  1921. 


A    PREFATORY    WORD. 

MANY  people  will  object — some  have  already 
objected — to  the  subject  of  this  book.  It  is  an 
offence  to  some  to  take  a  ghost  too  seriously  ; 
with  others  it  is  a  still  greater  offence  not  to  take 
ghosts  seriously  enough.  One  set  of  objections 
can  be  paired  off  against  the  other ;  neither 
objection  has  very  solid  foundation.  The  time 
has  surely  come  when  the  fair  claim  of  ghosts  to 
the  impartial  attention  and  careful  observation  of 
mankind  should  no  longer  be  ignored.  In  earlier 
times  people  believed  in  them  so  much  that  they 
cut  their  acquaintance  ;  in  later  times  people 
believe  in  them  so  little  that  they  will  not  even 
admit  their  existence.  Thus  these  mysterious 
visitants  have  hitherto  failed  to  enter  into  that 
friendly  relation  with  mankind  which  many  of 
them  seem  sincerely  to  desire. 

But  what  with  the  superstitious  credulity  of 
the  one  age  and  the  equally  superstitious  unbelief  / 
of  another,  it  is  necessary  to  begin  from  the  be- 
ginning and  to  convince  a  sceptical  world  that 
apparitions  really  appear.  In  order  to  do  this  it  is 
necessary  to  insist  that  your  ghost  should  no  longer 
be  ignored  as  a  phenomenon  of  Nature.  He  has  a 
right,  equal  to  that  of  any  other  natural  phen- 
omenon, to  be  examined  and  observed,  studied 
and  defined.  It  is  true  that  he  is  a  rather  difficult 
phenomenon  ;  his  comings  and  goings  are  rather 
intermittent  and  fitful,  his  substance  is  too 
shadowy  to  be  handled,  and  he  has  avoided  hither- 


A   PREFATORY  WORD 

to  equally  the  obtrusive  inquisitiveness  of  the 
microscope  and  telescope. 

A  phenomenon  which  you  can  neither  handle 
nor  weigh,  analyse  nor  dissect,  is  naturally  re- 
garded as  intractable  and  troublesome  ;  never- 
theless, however  intractable  and  troublesome  he 
may  be  to  reduce  to  any  of  the  existing  scientific 
categories,  we  have  no  right  to  allow  his  idiosyn- 
crasies to  deprive  him  of  his  innate  right  to  be 
regarded  as  a  phenomenon.  As  such  he  will  be 
treated  in  the  following  pages,  with  all  the  respect 
due  to  phenomena  whose  reality  is  attested  by  a 
sufficient  number  of  witnesses.  There  will  be  no 
attempt  in  this  book  to  build  up  a  theory  of 
apparitions,  or  to  define  the  true  inwardness  of  a 
ghost.  There  will  be  as  many  explanations  as 
there  are  minds  of  the  significance  of  the  extra- 
ordinary narratives  which  I  have  collated  from 
correspondence  and  from  accessible  records.  Leav- 
ing it  to  my  readers  to  discuss  the  rival  hypotheses, 
I  will  stick  to  the  humbler  mission  of  recording 
facts,  from  which  they  can  form  their  own  judg- 
ment. 

The  ordinary  temper  of  the  ordinary  man  in 
daaling  with  ghosts  is  supremely  unscientific, 
but  it  is  less  objectionable  than  that  of  the  pseudo- 
scientist.  The  Inquisitor  who  forbade  free  in- 
quiry into  matters  of  religion  because  of  human 
depravity,  was  the  natural  precursor  of  the  Scien- 
tist who  forbids  the  exercise  of  the  reason  on  the 
subject  of  ghosts,  on  account  of  inherited  ten- 
dencies to  attribute  such  phenomena  to  causes 
outside  the  established  order  of  nature.  What 
difference  there  is,  is  altogether  in  favour  of  the 


A  PREFATORY  WORD 

Inquisitor,  who  at  least  had  what  he  regarded  as  a 
divinely  constituted  authority,  competent  and 
willing  to  pronounce  final  decision  upon  any 
subject  that  might  trouble  the  human  mind. 
Science  has  no  such  tribunal,  and  when  she  forbids 
others  to  observe  and  to  reflect  she  is  no  better 
than  a  blind  fetish. 

Eclipses  in  old  days  used  to  drive  whole  nations 
half  mad  with  fright.  To  this  day  the  black  disc 
of  the  moon  no  sooner  begins  to  eat  into  the  shining 
surface  of  the  sun  than  millions  of  savage  men  feel 
"  creepy,"  and  begin  to  tremble  at  the  thought  of 
the  approaching  end  of  the  world.  But  in  civilised 
lands  even  the  most  ignorant  regard  an  eclipse 
with  imperturbable  composure.  Eclipses  are  scien- 
tific phenomena  observed  and  understood.  It  is 
our  object  to  reduce  ghosts  to  the  same  level,  or 
rather  to  establish  the  claim  of  ghosts  to  be  re- 
garded as  belonging  as  much  to  the  order  of 
Nature  as  the  eclipse.  /At  present  they  are  dis- 
franchised of  their  natural  birthright,  and  those 
who  treat  them  with  this  injustice  need  not  wonder 
if  they  take  their  revenge  in  "  creeps/' 

The  third  class  of  objection  takes  the  ground 
that  there  is  something  irreligious  and  contrary  to 
Christianity  in  the  chronicling  of  such  phenomena. 
It  is  fortunate  that  Mary  Magdalene  and  the  early 
disciples  did  not  hold  that  theory.  So  far  from  its 
being  irreligious  to  ascertain  facts,  there  is  a 
subtle  impiety  in  the  refusal  to  face  phenomena, 
whether  natural  or  supernatural.  Either  these 
things  exist  or  they  do  not.  If  they  do  not  exist, 
then  obviously  there  can  be  no  harm  in  a  searching 
examination  of  the  delusion  which  possessed  the 


A  PREFATORY   WORD 

mind  of  almost  every  worthy  in  the  Old  Testament, 
and  which  was  constantly  affirmed  by  the  authors 
of  the  New.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  they  do  exist, 
and  are  perceptible  under  certain  conditions  to  our 
senses,  it  will  be  difficult  to  affirm  the  impiety  of 
endeavouring  to  ascertain  what  is  their  nature, 
and  what  light  they  are  able  to  throw  upon  the 
kingdom  of  the  Unseen.  We  have  no  right  to  shut 
our  eyes  to  facts  and  close  our  ears  to  evidence 
merely  because  Moses  forbade  the  Hebrews  to 
allow  witches  to  live,  or  because  some  of  the 
phenomena  carry  with  them  suggestions  that  do 
not  altogether  harmonise  with  the  conventional 
orthodox  theories  of  future  life.  The  whole 
question  that  lies  at  bottom  is  whether  this  world 
is  divine  or  diabolic.  Those  who  believe  it  divine 
are  bound  by  that  belief  to  regard  every  pheno- 
menon as  a  window  through  which  man  may  gain 
fresh  glimpses  of  the  wonder  and  the  glory  of  the 
Infinite.  In  this  region,  as  in  all  others,  faith  and 
fear  go  ill  together. 

It  is  impossible  for  any  impartial  man  to  read 
the  narratives  of  which  the  present  book  is  com- 
posed without  feeling  that  we  have  at  least  one 
hint  or  suggestion  of  quite  incalculable  possibilities 
in  telepathy  or  thought  transference.  If  there  be, 
as  many  of  these  stories  seem  to  suggest,  a  latent 
capacity  in  the  human  mind  to  communicate  with 
other  minds,  entirely  regardless  of  the  conditions 
of  time  and  space,  it  is  undeniable  that  this  would 
be  a  fact  of  the  very  first  magnitude.  It  is  quite 
possible  that  the  telegraph  may  be  to  telepathy 
what  the  stage  coach  is  to  the  steam  engine. 
Neither  can  we  afford  to  overlook  the  fact  that 


A   PREFATORY  WORD 

these  phenomena  have  in  these  latter  days  signally 
vindicated  their  power  over  the  minds  of  men. 
Some  of  the  acutest  minds  of  our  time  have  learned 
to  recognise  in  them  scientific  demonstration  of  the 
existence  of  the  fact  that  personal  individuality 
survives  death. 

If  it  can  be  proved  that  it  is  occasionally  possible 
for  persons  at  the  uttermost  ends  of  the  world  to 
communicate  instantaneously  with  each  other,  and 
even  in  some  cases  to  make  a  vivid  picture  of 
themselves  stand  before  the  eyes  of  those  to  whom 
they  speak,  no  prejudice  as  to  the  unhealthy  nature 
of  the  inquiry  should  be  allowed  to  stand  in  the 
way  of  the  examination  of  such  a  fact  with  a  view 
to  ascertaining  whether  or  not  this  latent  capacity 
of  the  human  mind  can  be  utilised  for  the  benefit 
of  mankind.  Wild  as  this  suggestion  may  seem 
to-day,  it  is  less  fantastic  than  our  grandfathers 
a  hundred  years  ago  would  have  deemed  a  state- 
ment that  at  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  century 
portraits  would  be  taken  by  the  sun,  that  audible 
conversation  would  be  carried  on  instantaneously 
across  a  distance  of  a  thousand  miles,  that  a  ray  of 
light  could  be  made  the  agent  for  transmitting  the 
human  voice  across  an  abyss  which  no  wire  had 
ever  spanned,  and  that  by  a  simple  mechanical 
arrangement,  which  a  man  can  carry  in  his  hand, 
it  would  be  possible  to  reproduce  the  words,  voice, 
and  accent  of  the  dead.  The  photograph,  the 
telegraph,  the  telephone,  and  the  phonograph  were 
all  more  or  less  latent  in  what  seemed  to  our 
ancestors  the  kite-flying  folly  of  Benjamin  Frank- 
lin. Who  knows  but  that  in  Telepathy  we  may 
have  the  faint  foreshadowing  of  another  latent 


A  PREFATORY  WORD 

force,  which  may  yet  be  destined  to  cast  into  the 
shade  even  the  marvels  of  electrical  science  ! 

There  is  a  growing  interest  in  all  the  occult 
phenomena  to  which  this  work  is  devoted.  It  is 
in  evidence  on  every  hand.  The  topic  is  in  the  air, 
and  will  be  discussed  and  is  being  discussed, 
whether  we  take  notice  of  it  or  not.  That  it  has 
its  dangers  those  who  have  studied  it  most  closely 
are  most  aware,  but  these  dangers  will  exist  in  any 
case,  and  if  those  who  ought  to  guide  are  silent, 
these  perils  will  be  encountered  without  the  safe- 
guards which  experience  would  dictate  and  pru- 
dence suggest.  It  seems  to  me  that  it  would  be 
difficult  to  do  better  service  in  this  direction  than 
to  strengthen  the  hands  of  those  who  have  for 
many  years  past  been  trying  to  rationalise  the 
consideration  of  the  Science  of  Ghosts. 

It  is  idle  to  say  that  this  should  be  left  for  ex- 
perts. We  live  in  a  democratic  age  and  we  demo- 
cratise everything.  It  is  too  late  in  the  day  to  pro- 
pose to  place  the  whole  of  this  department  under 
the  care  of  any  Brahmin  caste  ;  the  subject  is  one 
which  every  common  man  and  woman  can  under- 
stand. It  is  one  which  comes  home  to  every  human 
being,  for  it  adds  a  new  interest  to  life,  and  vivifies 
the  sombre  but  all-pervading  problem  of  death. 

W.  T.  STEAD. 
London,  1891. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

PART  I. — THE  GHOST  THAT  DWELLS  IN  EACH  OF  Us. 

Chapter    I.     The  Unconscious  Personality  .  .17 

„      II.     Louis  V.  and  His  Two  Souls  .  .       32 

„    III.     Madame  B.  and  Her  Three  Souls        .       45 

,,     IV.     Some  Suggested  Theories         .  .       52 

PART  II. — THE  THOUGHT  BODY,  OR  THE  DOUBLE. 
Chapter    I.     Aerial  Journeyings        .  .  .56 

,,      II.     The  Evidence  of  the  Psychical  Research 

Society          .  .  .  .72 

„    III.     Aimless  Doubles  .  .  .86 

„     IV.    The  Hypnotic  Key      .  .     101 

PART  III. — CLAIRVOYANCE. — THE  VISION  OF  THE  OUT  OF 

SIGHT. 

Chapter    I.     The  Astral  Camera      .  .  .108 

,,      II.     Tragic  Happenings  Seen  in  Dreams      .     127 
,,    III.     My  Own  Experience    .  .  141 

PART  IV. — PREMONITIONS  AND  SECOND  SIGHT. 

Chapter    I.     My  Own  Extraordinary  Premonitions  .     145 

II.     Warnings  Given  in  Dreams     .  .     160 

,,    III.     Premonitory  Warnings  .  .179 

„     IV.     Some  Historical  and  Other  Cases        \     192 

PART  V. — GHOSTS  OF  THE  LIVING  ON  BUSINESS. 

Chapter    I.     Warnings  of  Peril  and  Death  .     199 

II.     A  Dying  Double  Demands  its  Portraits  !     211 

PART  VI. — GHOSTS  KEEPING  PROMISE. 
Chapter    I.     My  Irish  Friend  .  .     222 

II.     Lord  Brougham's  Testimony   .  .231 

APPENDIX. — Some  Historical  Ghosts    .  .  240 


'•  I 


REAL    GHOST    STORIES. 

PART  I. 

THE  GHOST  THAT  DWELLS  IN  EACH  OF  US 

CHAPTER  I. 
THE  UNCONSCIOUS  PERSONALITY. 


f<  REAL  Ghost  Stories  ! — How  can  there  be  real 
ghost  stories  when  there  are  no  real  ghosts  ?  " 

But  are  there  no  real  ghosts  ?  You  may  not 
have  seen  one,  but  it  does  not  follow  that  therefore 
they  do  not  exist.  How  many  of  us  have  seen 
the  microbe  that  kills  ?  There  are  at  least  as 
many  persons  who  testify  they  have  seen  appari- 
tions as  there  are  men  of  science  who  have  ex- 
amined the  microbe.  You  and  I,  who  have  seen 
neither,  must  perforce  take  the  testimony  of 
others.  The  evidence  for  the  microbe  may  be  con- 
clusive, the  evidence  as  to  apparitions  may  be 
worthless  ;  but  in  both  cases  it  is  a  case  of  testi- 
mony, not  of  personal  experience. 

B 


i8  RBAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

The  first  thing  to  be  done,  therefore,  is  to  collect 
testimony,  and  by  way  of  generally  widening  the 
mind  and  shaking  down  the  walls  of  prejudice 
which  lead  so  many  to  refuse  to  admit  the  clearest 
possible  evidence  as  to  facts  which  have  not 
occurred  within  their  personal  experience,  I 
preface  the  report  of  my  "  Census  of  Hallucin- 
ations "  or  personal  experiences  of  the  so-called 
supernatural  by  a  preliminary  chapter  on  the 
perplexing  subject  of  "  Personality/'  This  is  the 
question  that  lies  at  the  root  of  all  the  contro- 
versy as  to  ghosts.  Before  disputing  about  whether 
or  not  there  are  ghosts  outside  of  us,  let  us  face  the 
preliminary  question,  whether  we  have  not  each  of 
us  a  veritable  ghost  within  our  own  skin  ? 

Thrilling  as  are  some  of  the  stories  of  the 
apparitions  of  the  living  and  the  dead,  they  are 
less  sensational  than  the  suggestion  made  by 
hypnotists  and  psychical  researchers  of  England 
and  France,  that  each  of  us  has  a  ghost  inside 
him.  They  say  that  we  are  all  haunted  by  a 
Spiritual  Presence,  of  whose  existence  we  are  only 
fitfully  and  sometimes  never  conscious,  but  which 
nevertheless  inhabits  the  innermost  recesses  of  our 
personality.  The  theory  of  these  researchers  is 
that  besides  the  body  and  the  mind,  meaning  by 
the  mind  the  Conscious  Personality,  there  is  also 
within  our  material  frame  the  soul  or  Unconscious 
Personality,the  nature  of  which  is  shrouded  in  un- 
fathomable mystery.  The  latest  word  of  ad- 
vanced science  has  thus  landed  us  back  to  the 
apostolic  assertion  that  man  is  composed  of  body, 
soul  and  spirit ;  and  there  are  some  who  see  in  the 


THE  GHOST  THAT  DWEU,S  IN  EACH  OF  Us     19 

scientific  doctrine  of  the  Unconscious  Personality 
a  welcome  confirmation  from  an  unexpected 
quarter  of  the  existence  of  the  soul. 

The  fairy  tales  of  science  are  innumerable,  and, 
like  the  fairy  tales  of  old  romance,  they  are  not 
lacking  in  the  grim,  the  tragic,  and  even  the 
horrible.  Of  recent  years  nothing  has  so  fascinated 
the  imagination  even  of  the  least  imaginative  of 
men  as  the  theory  of  disease  which  transforms 
every  drop  of  blood  in  our  bodies  into  the  lists  in 
which  phagocyte  and  microbe  wage  the  mortal 
strife  on  which  our  health  depends.  Every  white 
corpuscle  that  swims  in  our  veins  is  now  declared 
to  be  the  armed  Knight  of  Life  for  ever  on  the 
look-out  for  the  microbe  Fiend  of  Death.  Day 
and  night,  sleeping  and  waking,  the  white  knights 
Df  life  are  constantly  on  the  alert,  for  on  their 
dgilance  hangs  our  existence.  Sometimes,  how- 
ever, the  invading  microbes  come  in,  not  in  com- 
panies but  in  platoons,  innumerable  as  Xerxes' 
Persians,  and  then  "  e'en  Roderick's  best  are 
backward  borne,"  and  we  die.  For  our  life  is  the 
prize  of  the  combat  in  these  novel  lists  which 
science  has  revealed  to  our  view  through  the 
microscope,  and  health  is  but  the  token  of  the 
triumphant  victory  of  the  phagocyte  over  the 
microbe. 

But  far  more  enthralling  is  the  suggestion  which 
psychical  science  has  made  as  to  the  existence  of  a 
:ombat  not  less  grave  in  the  very  inmost  centre 
}f  our  own  mental  or  spiritual  existence.  The 
>trife  between  the  infinitely  minute  bacilli  that 
>warm  in  our  blood  has  only  the  interest  which 


2o  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

attaches  to  the  conflict  of  inarticulate  and  appar- 
ently unconscious  animalculse.  The  strife  to  which 
researches  into  the  nature  and  constitution  of  our 
mental  processes  call  attention  concerns  our  con- 
scious selves.  It  suggests  almost  inconceivable 
possibilities  as  to  our  own  nature,  and  leaves  us 
appalled  on  the  brink  of  a  new  world  of  being  of 
which  until  recently  most  of  us  were  unaware. 

There  are  no  papers  of  such  absorbing  interest 
in  the  whole  of  the  "  Proceedings  of  the  Society  for 
Psychical  Research  "  as  those  which  deal  with  the 
question  of  the  Personality  of  Man.  "  I,"  what 
am  I  ?  What  is  our  Ego  ?  Is  this  Conscious 
Personality  which  receives  impressions  through 
the  five  senses,  and  through  them  alone,  is  it  the 
only  dweller  in  this  mortal  tabernacle  ?  May  there 
not  be  other  personalities,  or  at  least  one  other 
that  is  not  conscious,  when  we  are  awake,  and 
alert,  and  about,  but  which  conies  into  semi- 
consciousness  when  we  sleep,  and  can  be  developed 
into  complete  consciousness  when  the  other  person- 
ality is  thrown  into  a  state  of  hypnotic  trance  ? 
In  other  words,  am  I  one  personality  or  two  ?  Is 
my  nature  dual  ?  As  I  have  two  hemispheres  in 
my  brain,  have  I  two  minds  or  two  souls  ? 

The  question  will,  no  doubt,  appear  fantastic 
in  its  absurdity  to  those  who  hear  it  asked  for  the 
first  time  ;  but  those  who  are  at  all  familiar  with 
the  mysterious  but  undisputed  phenomena  of 
hypnotism  will  realize  how  naturally  this  question 
arises,  and  how  difficult  it  is  to  answer  it  otherwise 
than  in  the  affirmative.  Every  one  knows  Mr. 
I,ouis  Stevenson's  wonderful  story  of  "  Dr.  Jekyll 


THE  GHOST  THAT  DWEU,S  IN  EACH  OF  Us     21 

and  Mr.  Hyde."  The  dual  nature  of  man,  the 
warfare  between  this  body  of  sin  and  death,  and 
the  spiritual  aspirations  of  the  soul,  forms  part  of 
the  common  stock  of  our  orthodox  belief.  But 
the  facts  which  recent  researches  have  brought 
to  light  seem  to  point  not  to  the  old  theological 
doctrine  of  the  conflict  between  good  and  evil  in 
one  soul,  but  to  the  existence  in  each  of  us  of  at 
least  two  distinct  selfs,  two  personalities,  standing 
to  each  other  somewhat  in  the  relation  of  man  and 
wife,  according  to  the  old  ideal  when  the  man  is 
everything  and  the  woman  is  almost  entirely 
suppressed. 

Every  one  is  familiar  with  the  phenomenon  or\ 
occasional  loss  of  memory.  Men  are  constantly 
losing  consciousness,  from  disease,  violence,  or 
violent  emotion,  and  emerging  again  into  active 
life  with  a  gap  in  their  memory.  Nay,  every  night 
we  become  unconscious  in  sleep,  and  rarely,  if 
ever,  remember  anything  that  we  think  of  during, 
slumber.  Sometimes  in  rare  cases  there  is  a 
distinct  memory  of  all  that  passes  in  the  sleeping 
and  the  waking  states,  and  we  have  read  of  one 
young  man  whose  sleeping  consciousness  was  so 
continuous  that  he  led,  to  all  intents  and  purposes, 
two  lives.  When  he  slept  he  resumed  his  dream 
existence  at  the  point  when  he  waked,  just  as  we 
resume  our  consciousness  at  the  point  when  we  fall 
asleep.  It  was  just  as  real  to  him  as  the  life  which 
he  lived  when  awake.  It  was  actual,  progressive, 
continuous,  but  entirely  different,  holding  no 
relation  whatever  to  his  waking  life.  Of  his  two 
existences  he  preferred  that  which  was  spent  in 


22  REAL,  GHOST  STORIES 

sleep,    as   more   vivid,    more   varied,    and   more 
pleasurable.    This  was  no  doubt  an  extreme  and 
very  unusual  case.    But  it  is  not  impossible  to  con- 
ceive the  possibility  of  a   continuous   series  of 
connected  dreams,  which  would  result  in  giving  us 
a  realizing  sense  of  leading  two  existences.    That 
/we  fail  to  realize  this  now  is  due  to  the  fact  that 
/our  memory  is  practically  inert  or  non-existent 
during  sleep.    The  part  of  our  mind  which  dreams 
;  seldom   registers   its   impressions   in   regions   to 
which  on  waking  our  conscious  personality  has 
access. 

The  conception  of  a  dual  or  even  a  multiple 
personality  is  worked  out  in  a  series  of  papers  by 
Mr.  F.  W.  H.  Myers*,  to  which  I  refer  all  those 
who  wish  to  make  a  serious  study  of  this  novel 
and  startling  hypothesis.  But  I  may  at  least 
attempt  to  explain  the  theory,  and  to  give  some 
outline  of  the  evidence  on  which  it  is  based. 

If  I  were  free  to  use  the  simplest  illustration 
without  any  pretence  at  scientific  exactitude,  I 
should  say  that  the  new  theory  supposes  that 
there  are  inside  each  of  us  not  one  personality  but 
two,  and  that  these  two  correspond  to  husband 
and  wife.  There  is  the  Conscious  Personality, 
which  stands  for  the  husband.  It  is  vigorous, 
alert,  active,  positive,  monopolising  all  the  means 
of  communication  and  production.  So  intense  is 
its  consciousness  that  it  ignores  the  very  existence 
of  its  partner,  excepting  as  a  mere  appendage  and 
convenience  to  itself.  Then  there  is  the  Uncon- 
scious Personality,  which  corresponds  to  the  wife 

*  "Human  Personality"  (I<ongmans,  Green  &  Co.) 


THE  GHOST  THAT  DWKIAS  IN  EACH  OF  Us     23 

who  keeps  cupboard  and  storehouse,  and  the  old 
stocking  which  treasures  up  the  accumulated 
wealth  of  impressions  acquired  by  the  Conscious 
Personality,  but  who  is  never  able  to  assert  any 
right  to  anything,  or  to  the  use  of  sense  or  limb 
except  when  her  lord  and  master  is  asleep  or 
entranced.  When  the  Conscious  Personality  has 
acquired  any  habit  or  faculty  so  completely  that 
it  becomes  instinctive,  it  is  handed  on  to  the  Un- 
conscious Personality  to  keep  and  use,  the  Con- 
scious Ego  giving  it  no  longer  any  attention. 
Deprived,  like  the  wife  in  countries  where  the 
subjection  of  woman  is  the  universal  law,  of  all 
right  to  an  independent  existence,  or  to  the  use 
of  the  senses  or  of  the  limbs,  the  Unconscious 
Personality  has  discovered  ways  and  means  of 
communicating  other  than  through  the  recognised 
organs  of  sense. 

How  vast  and  powerful  are  those  hidden  organs 
of  the  Unconscious  Personality  we  can  only  dimly 
see.  It  is  through  them  that  Divine  revelation  is 
vouchsafed  to  man.  The  visions  of  the  mystic, 
the  prophecies  of  the  seer,  the  inspiration  of  the 
sibyl,  all  come  through  this  Unconscious  Soul. 
It  is  through  this  dumb  and  suppressed  Ego  that 
we  communicate  by  telepathy, — that  thought  is 
transferred  without  using  the  five  senses.  This 
under-soul  is  in  touch  with  the  over-soul,  which, 
in  Emerson's  noble  phrase,  "  abolishes  time  and 
space."  '  This  influence  of  the  senses  has,"  he 
says,  "  in  most  men,  overpowered  their  mind 
to  that  degree  that  the  walls  of  time  and  space 
have  come  to  look  real  and  insurmountable  ;  and 


24  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

to  speak  with  levity  of  these  limits  is  in  the  world 
the  sign  of  insanity.  Yet  time  and  space  are  but 
inverse  measures  of  the  force  of  the  soul."  It  is 
this  Unconscious  Personality  which  sees  the 
Strathmore  foundering  in  mid-ocean,  which  hears  a 
whisper  spoken  hundreds  of  miles  off  upon  the 
battlefield,  and  which  witnesses,  as  if  it  happened 
before  the  eyes,  a  tragedy  occurring  at  the  Anti- 
podes. 

In  proportion  as  the  active,  domineering  Con- 
scious Personality  extinguishes  his  submissive 
unconscious  partner,  materialism  flourishes,  and 
man  becomes  blind  to  the  Divinity  that  underlies 
all  things.  Hence  in  all  religions  the  first  step  is 
to  silence  the  noisy,  bustling  master  of  our  earthly 
tabernacle,  who,  having  monopolised  the  five 
senses,  will  listen  to  no  voice  which  it  cannot  hear, 
and  to  allow  the  silent  mistress  to  be  open-souled 
to  God.  Hence  the  stress  which  all  spiritual  re- 
ligions have  laid  upon  contemplation,  upon  prayer 
and  fasting.  Whether  it  is  an  Indian  Yogi,  or  a 
Trappist  Monk,  or  one  of  our  own  Quakers,  it  is 
all  the  same.  In  the  words  of  the  Revivalist 
hymn,  "  We  must  lay  our  deadly  doing  down," 
and  in  receptive  silence  wait  for  the  inspiration 
from  on  high.  The  Conscious  Personality  has 
usurped  the  visible  world ;  but  the  Invisible, 
with  its  immeasurable  expanse,  is  the  domain  of 
the  Sub-conscious.  Hence  we  read  in  the  Scrip- 
tures of  losing  life  that  we  may  find  it ;  for  things 
of  time  and  sense  are  temporal,  but  the  things 
which  are  not  seen  are  eternal. 

It  is  extraordinary  how  close  is  the  analogy 


TH£  GHOST  THAT  DWEU,S  IN  EACH  OF  Us     25 

when  we  come  to  work  it  out.  The  impressions 
stored  up  by  the  Conscious  Personality  and  en- 
trusted to  the  care  of  the  Unconscious  are  often, 
much  to  our  disgust,  not  forthcoming  when  wanted. 
It  is  as  if  we  had  given  a  memorandum  to  our  wife 
and  we  could  not  discover  where  she  had  put  it. 
But  night  comes  ;  our  Conscious  Self  sleeps,  our 
Unconscious  Housewife  wakes,  and  turning  over 
her  stores  produces  the  missing  impression  ;  and 
when  our  other  self  wakes  it  finds  the  mislaid 
memorandum,  so  to  speak,  ready  to  its  hand. 
Sometimes,  as  in  the  case  of  somnambulism,  the 
Sub-conscious  Personality  stealthily  endeavours 
to  use  the  body  and  limbs,  from  all  direct  control 
over  which  it  is  shut  out  as  absolutely  as  the  in- 
mate of  a  Hindu  zenana  is  forbidden  to  mount  the 
charger  of  her  warrior  spouse.  But  it  is  only  when 
the  Conscious  Personality  is  thrown  into  a  state 
of  hypnotic  trance  that  the  Unconscious  Per- 
sonality is  emancipated  from  the  marital  despot- 
ism of  her  partner.  Then  for  the  first  time  she  is 
allowed  to  help  herself  to  the  faculties  and  senses 
usually  monopolised  by  the  Conscious  Self.  But 
like  the  timid  and  submissive  inmate  of  the  zenana 
suddenly  delivered  from  the  thraldom  of  her 
life-long  partner,  she  immediately  falls  under  the 
control  of  another.  The  Conscious  Personality 
of  another  person  exercises  over  her  the  same 
supreme  authority  that  her  own  Conscious  Per- 
sonality did  formerly. 

There  is  nothing  of  sex  in  the  ordinary  material 
sense  about  the  two  personalities.  But  their  union 
is  so  close  as  to  suggest  that  the  intrusion  of  the 


26  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

hypnotist  is  equivalent  to  an  intrigue  with  a 
married  woman.  The  Sub-conscious  Personality 
is  no  longer  faithful  exclusively  to  its  natural 
partner  ;  it  is  under  the  control  of  the  Conscious 
Personality  of  another  ;  and  in  the  latter  case  the 
dictator  seems  to  be  irresistibly  over-riding  for  a 
time  all  the  efforts  of  the  Conscious  Personality  to 
recover  its  authority  in  its  own  domain. 

What  proof,  it  will  be  asked  impatiently,  is 
there  for  the  splitting  of  our  personality  ?  The 
question  is  a  just  one,  and  I  proceed  to  answer  it. 

There  are  often  to  be  found  in  the  records  of 
lunatic  asylums  strange  instances  of  a  dual 
personality,  in  which  there  appear  to  be  two 
minds  in  one  body,  as  there  are  sometimes  two 
yolks  in  one  egg. 

In  the  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes,  M.  Jules  Janet 
records  the  following  experiment  which,  although 
simplicity  itself,  gives  us  a  very  vivid  glimpse 
of  a  most  appalling  complex  problem  :— 

"  An  hysterical  subject  with  an  insensitive 
limb  is  put  to  sleep,  and  is  told,  '  After  you  wake 
you  will  raise  your  finger  when  you  mean  Yes, 
and  you  will  put  it  down  when  you  mean  No, 
in  answer  to  the  questions  which  I  shall  ask  you/ 
The  subject  is  then  wakened,  and  M.  Janet  pricks 
the  insensitive  limb  in  several  places.  He  asks, 
'  Do  you  feel  anything  ?  '  The  conscious-awakened 
person  replies  with  the  lips,  '  No/  but  at  the  same 
time,  in  accordance  with  the  signal  that  has  been 
agreed  upon  during  the  state  of  hypnotisation, 
the  finger  is  raised  to  signify  '  Yes/  It  has  been 
found  that  the  finger  will  even  indicate  exactly 


THE  GHOST  THAT  DWEU,S  IN  EACH  OF  Us     27 

the  number  of  times  that  the  apparently  insensi- 
tive limb  has  been  wounded/' 

- .— .  -* 

The  Double-Souled  Irishman. 

Dr.  Robinson,  of  L,ewisham,  who  has  bestowed 
much  attention  on  this  subject,  sends  me  the 
following  delightful  story  about  an  Irishman  who 
seems  to  have  incarnated  the  Irish  nationality  in 
his  own  unhappy  person  :— 

"  An  old  colleague  of  mine  at  the  Darlington 
Hospital  told  me  that  he  once  had  an  Irish  lunatic 
under  his  care  who  imagined  that  his  body  was 
the  dwelling-place  of  two  individuals,  one  of 
whom  was  a  Catholic,  with  Nationalist — not  to 
say  Fenian — proclivities,  and  the  other  was  a  Pro- 
testant and  an  Orangeman.  The  host  of  these 
incompatibles  said  he  made  it  a  fixed  rule  that  the 
Protestant  should  occupy  the  right  side  of  his  body 
and  the  Catholic  the  left,  '  so  that  he  would  not  be 
annoyed  wid  them  quarrelling  in  his  inside/  The 
sympathies  of  the  host  were  with  the  green  and 
against  the  orange,  and  he  tried  to  weaken  the 
latter  by  starving  him,  and  for  months  would  only 
chew  his  food  on  the  left  side  of  his  mouth.  The 
lunatic  was  not  very  troublesome,  as  a  rule,  but 
the  attendants  generally  had  to  straight- waistcoat 
him  on  certain  critical  days — such  as  St.  Patrick's 
Day  and  the  anniversary  of  the  battle  of  the  Boyne; 
because  the  Orange  fist  would  punch  the  Fenian 
head  unmercifully,  and  occasionally  he  and  the 
Fenian  leagued  together  against  the  Orangeman  and 
banged  him  against  the  wall.  This  lunatic,  when 
questioned,  said  he  did  his  best  to  keep  the  peace 


28  RKAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

between  his  troublesome  guests,  but  that  some- 
times they  got  out  of  hand." 

Ansel  Bourne  and  A.  J.  Brown. 

A  similar  case,  although  not  so  violent  or 
chronic  in  its  manifestation,  is  recorded  in  Vol. 
VII.  (Part  xix.)  of  the  Psychical  Research  Society's 
Proceedings,  as  having  occurred  on  Rhode  Island 
some  years  ago.  An  excellent  citizen,  and  a  very 
religious  lay  preacher,  of  the  name  of  Ansel 
Bourne,  was  the  subject  :— 

On  January  17th,  1887,  he  went  from  his 
home  in  Coventry,  R.I.,  to  Providence,  in  order 
to  get  money  to  pay  for  a  farm  which  he  had 
arranged  to  buy,  leaving  his  horse  at  Greene 
Station,  in  a  stable,  expecting  to  return  the  same 
afternoon  from  the  city.  He  drew  out  of  the  bank 
551  dollars,  and  paid  several  small  bills,  after 
which  he  went  to  his  nephew's  store,  121,  Broad 
Street,  and  then  started  to  go  to  his  sister's  house 
on  Westminster  Street.  This  was  the  last  that  was 
known  of  his  doings  at  that  time.  He  did  not 
appear  at  his  sister's  house,  and  did  not  return 
to  Greene. 

Nothing  was  heard  of  him  until  March  the  14th, 
when  a  telegram  came  from  a  doctor  in  Norris- 
town,  Philadelphia,  stating  that  he  had  just  been 
discovered  there.  He  was  entirely  unconscious 
of  having  been  absent  from  home,  or  of  the  lapse 
of  time  between  January  17th  and  March  14th. 
He  was  brought  home  by  his  relatives,  who,  by  dili- 
gent inquiry  were  able  to  make  out  that  Mr.  Ansel 
Bourne,  five  weeks  after  leaving  Rhode  Island, 


THE  GHOST  THAT  DWEU,S  IN  EACH  OF  Us     29 

opened  a  shop  in  Norristown,  and  stocked  it  with 
toys  and  confectionery  which  he  purchased  in 
Philadelphia.  He  called  himself  A.  J.  Brown,  and 
lived  and  did  business,  and  went  to  meeting,  like 
any  ordinary  mortal,  giving  no  one  any  suspicion 
that  he  was  any  other  than  A.  J.  Brown. 

On  the  morning  of  Monday,  March  14th,  about 
five  o'clock,  he  heard,  he  says,  an  explosion  like 
the  report  of  a  gun  or  a  pistol,  and,  waking,  he 
noticed  that  there  was  a  ridge  in  his  bed  not  like 
the  bed  he  had  been  accustomed  to  sleep  in.  He 
noticed  the  electric  light  opposite  his  windows. 
He  rose  and  pulled  away  the  curtains  and  looked 
out  on  the  street.  He  felt  very  weak,  and  thought 
that  he  had  been  drugged.  His  next  sensation 
was  that  of  fear,  knowing  that  he  was  in  a  place 
where  he  had  no  business  to  be.  He  feared  arrest 
as  a  burglar,  or  possibly  injury.  He  says  this  is 
the  only  time  in  his  life  he  ever  feared  a  policeman. 

The  last  thing  he  could  remember  before 
waking  was  seeing  the  Adams  express  wagons  at 
the  corner  of  Dorrance  and  Broad  Streets,  in 
Providence,  on  his  way  from  the  store  of  his 
nephew  in  Broad  Street  to  his  sister's  residence 
in  Westminster  Street,  on  January  17th. 

The  memory  of  Ansel  Bourne  retained  absolutely 
nothing  of  the  doings  of  A.  J.  Brown,  whose  life 
he  had  lived  for  nearly  two  months.  Professor 
William  James  hypnotised  him,  and  no  sooner 
was  he  put  into  the  trance  and  was  told  to 
remember  what  happened  January  17th,  1887, 
than  he  became  A.  J.  Brown  again,  and  gave  a 
clear  and  connected  narrative  of  all  his  doings 


30  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

in  the  Brown  state.  He  did  not  remember  ever 
having  met  Ansel  Bourne.  Everything,  however, 
in  his  past  life,  he  said,  was  "  mixed  up."  He 
only  remembered  that  he  was  confused,  wanted  to 
get  somewhere  and  have  rest.  He  did  not  re- 
member how  he  left  Norristown.  His  mind  was 
confused,  and  since  then  it  was  a  blank.  He  had 
no  memory  whatever  of  his  name  or  of  his  second 
marriage  and  the  place  of  his  birth.  He  remem- 
bered, however,  the  date  of  his  birth,  and  of  his 
first  wife's  death,  and  his  trade.  But  between 
January  17th,  1887,  and  March  14th  he  was  not 
himself  but  another,  and  that  other  one  Albert  J. 
Brown,  who  ceased  to  exist  consciously  on  March 
14th,  but  who  promptly  returned  four  years  after- 
wards, when  Ansel  Bourne  was  hypnotised,  and 
showed  that  he  remembered  perfectly  all  that 
happened  to  him  between  these  two  dates.  The 
confusion  of  his  two  memories  in  his  earlier  life  is 
puzzling,  but  it  in  no  way  impairs  the  value  of  this 
illustration  of  the  existence  of  two  independent 
memories — two  selfs,  so  to  speak,  within  a  single 
skin. 

The  phenomenon  is  not  uncommon,  especially 
with  epileptic  patients.  Every  mad-doctor  knows 
cases  in  which  there  are  what  may  be  described  as 
alternating  consciousnesses  with  alternating  mem- 
ories. But  the  experiments  of  the  French  hypno- 
tists carry  us  much  further.  In  their  hands  this 
Sub-conscious  Personality  is  capable  of  develop- 
ment, of  tuition,  and  of  emancipation.  In  this 
little  suspected  region  lies  a  great  resource.  For 
when  the  Conscious  Personality  is  hopeless,  dis- 


THE  GHOST  THAT  DWEU<S  IN  EACH  OF  Us     31 

eased,  or  demoralised  the  Unconscious  Personality 
can  be  employed  to  renovate  and  restore  the 
patient,  and  then  when  its  work  is  done  it  can- 
become  unconscious  once  more  and  practically 
cease  to  exist. 


CHAPTER  II. 
Louis  V.  AND  His  Two  SOULS. 

THERE  is  at  present*  a  patient  in  France  whose 
case  is  so  extraordinary  that  I  cannot  do  better 
than  transcribe  the  report  of  it  here,  especially 
because  it  tends  to  show  not  only  that  we  have 
two  personalities,  but  that  each  may  use  by  pre- 
ference a  separate  lobe  of  the  brain.  The  Con- 
scious Personality  occupies  the  left  and  controls 
the  right  hand,  the  Unconscious  the  right  side  of 
the  head  and  controls  the  left  hand.  It  also  brings 
to  light  a  very  curious,  not  to  say  appalling,  fact, 
viz.,  the  immense  moral  difference  there  may  be 
between  the  Conscious  and  the  Unconscious  Per- 
sonalities. In  the  American  case  Bourne  was  a 
character  practically  identical  with  Brown.  In 
this  French  case  the  character  of  each  self  is 
entirely  different.  What  makes  the  case  still  more 
interesting  is  that,  besides  the  two  personalities 
which  we  all  seem  to  possess,  this  patient  had  an 
arrested  personality,  which  was  only  fourteen 
years  old  when  the  age  of  his  body  was  over  forty. 
Here  is  the  report,  however,  make  of  it  what  you 
will. 

'  Louis  V.  began  life  (in  1863)  as  the  neglected 
child  of  a  turbulent  mother.  He  was  sent  to  a 
reformatory  at  ten  years  of  age,  and  there  showed 
himself,  as  he  has  always  done  when  his  organiza- 

*  1891. 


THE  GHOST  THAT  DWEU,S  IN  EACH  OF  Us     33 

tion  had  given  him  a  chance,  quiet,  well-behaved, 
and  obedient.  Then  at  fourteen  years  old  he  had  a 
great  fright  from  a  viper — a  fright  which  threw 
him  off  his  balance,  and  started  the  series  of 
psychical  oscillations  on  which  he  has  been  tossed 
ever  since.  At  first  the  symptoms  were  only 
physical,  epilepsy  and  hysterical  paralysis  of  the 
legs  ;  and  at  the  asylum  of  Bonneval,  whither  he 
was  next  sent,  he  worked  at  tailoring  steadily  for  a 
couple  of  months.  Then  suddenly  he  had  a  hystero- 
epileptic  attack — fifty  hours  of  convulsions  and 
ecstasy — and  when  he  awoke  from  it  he  was  no 
longer  paralysed,  no  longer  acquainted  with  tailor- 
ing, and  no  longer  virtuous.  His  memory  was  set 
back,  so  to  say,  to  the  moment  of  the  viper's 
appearance,  and  he  could  remember  nothing  since. 
His  character  had  become  violent,  greedy,  quarrel- 
some, and  his  tastes  were  radically  changed.  For 
instance,  though  he  had  before  the  attack  been  a 
total  abstainer,  he  now  not  only  drank  his  own 
wine,  but  stole  the  wine  of  the  other  patients. 
He  escaped  from  Bonneval,  and  after  a  few  turbu- 
lent years,  tracked  by  his  occasional  relapses  into 
hospital  or  madhouse,  he  turned  up  once  more  at 
the  Rochefort  asylum  in  the  character  of  a  private 
of  marines,  convicted  of  theft,  but  considered  to  be 
of  unsound  mind.  And  at  Rochefort  and  I^a 
Rochelle,  by  great  good  fortune,  he  fell  into  the 
hands  of  three  physicians — Professors  Bourru  and 
Burot,  and  Dr.  Mabille — able  and  willing  to  con- 
tinue and  extend  the  observations  which  Dr. 
Camuset  at  Bonneval,  and  Dr.  Jules  Voisin  at 
Bicetre,  had  already  made  on  this  most  precious  of 

C 


34  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

mauvais  sujets  at  earlier  points  in  his  chequered 
career. 

"  He  is  now  no  longer  at  Rochefort,  and  Dr. 
Burot  informs  me  that  his  health  has  much  im- 
proved, and  that  his  peculiarities  have  in  great 
part  disappeared.  I  must,  however,  for  clearness 
sake,  use  the  present  tense  in  briefly  describing  his 
condition  at  the  time  when  the  long  series  of  ex- 
periments were  made. 

"  The  state  into  which  he  has  gravitated  is  a 
very  unpleasing  one.  There  is  paralysis  and  in- 
sensibility of  the  right  side,  and,  as  is  often  the  case 
in  right  hemiplegia,  the  speech  is  indistinct  and 
difficult.  Nevertheless  he  is  constantly  haranguing 
any  one  who  will  listen  to  him,  abusing  his  physi- 
cians, or  preaching — with  a  monkey-like  impu- 
dence rather  than  with  reasoned  clearness — 
radicalism  in  politics  and  atheism  in  religion. 
He  makes  bad  jokes,  and  if  any  one  pleases  him  he 
endeavours  to  caress  him.  He  remembers  recent 
events  during  his  residence  at  Rochefort  asylum, 
but  only  two  scraps  of  his  life  before  that  date, 
namely,  his  vicious  period  at  Bonneval  and  a  part 
of  his  stay  at  Bicetre. 

"  Except  this  strange  fragmentary  memory, 
there  is  nothing  very  unusual  in  this  condition, 
and  in  many  asylums  no  experiments  on  it  would 
have  been  attempted.  Fortunately  the  physicians 
at  Rochefort  were  familiar  with  the  efficacy  of  the 
contact  of  metals  in  provoking  transfer  of  hysterical 
hemiplegia  from  one  side  to  the  other.  They  tried 
various  metals  in  turn  on  L,ouis  V.  I^ead,  silver, 
and  zinc  had  no  effect.  Copper  produced  a  slight 


THE  GHOST  THAT  DWEU,S  IN  EACH  OF  Us     35 

return  of  sensibility  in  the  paralysed  arm,  but 
steel  applied  to  the  right  arm  transferred  the  whole 
insensibility  to  the  left  side  of  the  body. 

"  Inexplicable  as  such  a  phenomenon  is,  it  is 
sufficiently  common,  as  French  physicians  hold, 
in  hysterical  cases  to  excite  little  surprise.  What 
puzzled  the  doctors  was  the  change  of  character 
which  accompanied  the  change  of  sensibility. 
When  Louis  V.  issued  from  the  crisis  of  transfer 
with  its  minute  of  anxious  expression  and  panting 
breath,  he  might  fairly  be  called  a  new  man.  The 
restless  insolence,  the  savage  impulsiveness,  have 
wholly  disappeared.  The  patient  is  now  gentle, 
respectful,  and  modest,  can  speak  clearly,  but  he 
only  speaks  when  he  is  spoken  to.  If  he  is  asked 
his  views  on  religion  and  politics,  he  prefers  to 
leave  such  matters  to  wiser  heads  than  his  own. 
It  might  seem  that  morally  and  mentally  the 
patient's  cure  had  been  complete. 

"  But  now  ask  what  he  thinks  of  Rochefort ; 
how  he  liked  his  regiment  of  marines.  He  will 
blankly  answer  that  he  knows  nothing  of  Roche- 
fort,  and  was  never  a  soldier  in  his  life.  '  Where 
are  you  then,  and  what  is  the  date  of  to-day  ?  ' 
'  I  am  at  Bicetre  ;  it  is  January  2nd,  1884,  and  I 
hope  to  see  M.  Voisin,  as  I  did  yesterday/ 

"  It  is  found,  in  fact,  that  he  has  now  the  mem- 
ory of  two  short  periods  of  life  (different  from  those 
which  he  remembers  when  his  right  side  is  para- 
lysed), periods  during  which,  so  far  as  now  can  be 
ascertained,  his  character  was  of  this  same  decorous 
type,  and  his  paralysis  was  on  his  left  side. 

"  These  two  conditions  are  what  are  called  his 


36  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

first  and  his  second,  out  of  a  series  of  six  or  more 
through  which  he  can  be  made  to  pass.  For 
brevity's  sake  I  will  further  describe  his  fifth  state 
only. 

"If  he  is  placed  in  an  electric  bath,  or  if  a 
magnet  is  placed  on  his  head,  it  looks  at  first  sight 
as  though  a  complete  physical  cure  had  been 
effected.  All  paralysis,  all  defect  of  sensibility, 
has  disappeared.  His  movements  are  light  and 
active,  his  expression  gentle  and  timid,  but  ask 
him  where  he  is,  and  you  will  find  that  he  has 
gone  back  to  a  boy  of  fourteen,  that  he  is  at  St. 
Urbain,  his  first  reformatory,  and  that  his  memory 
embraces  his  years  of  childhood,  and  stops  short 
on  the  very  day  on  which  he  had  the  fright  from 
the  viper.  If  he  is  pressed  to  recollect  the  incident 
of  the  viper,  a  violent  epileptiform  crisis  puts  a 
sudden  end  to  this  phase  of  his  personality." 
(Vol.  IV.  pp.  497,  498,  499,  "  Proceedings  of  the 
Society  for  Psychical  Research.") 

This  carries  us  a  good  deal  further.  Here  we 
have  not  only  two  distinct  personalities,  but  two 
distinct  characters,  if  not  three,  in  one  body. 
According  to  the  side  which  is  paralysed,  the  man 
is  a  savage  reprobate  or  a  decent  modest  citizen. 
The  man  seems  born  again  when  the  steel  touches 
his'right  side.  Yet  all  that  has  happened  has  been 
that  the  Sub-conscious  Personality  has  superseded 
his  Conscious  Personality  in  the  control  of  L,ouis  V. 

Lucie  and  Adrienne. 

The  next  case,  although  not  marked  by  the  same 
violent  contrast,  is  quite  as  remarkable,  because  it 


THE  GHOST  THAT  DWEU<S  IN  EACH  OF  Us     37 

illustrates  the  extent  to  which  the  Sub-conscious 
Self  can  be  utilised  in  curing  the  Conscious  Per- 
sonality. 

The  subject  was  a  girl  of  nineteen,  called 
who  was  highly  hysterical,  having  daily  attacks 
of  several  hours'  duration.  She  was  also  devoid 
of  the  sense  of  pain  or  the  sense  of  contact,  so  that 
she  "  lost  her  legs  in  bed/'  as  she  put  it. 

On  her  fifth  hypnotisation,  however,  L,ucie 
underwent  a  kind  of  catalepsy,  after  which  she 
returned  to  the  somnambulic  state  ;  but  that  state 
was  deeper  than  before.  She  no  longer  made  any 
sign  whether  of  assent  or  refusal  when  she  received 
the  hypnotic  commands,  but  she  executed  them 
infallibly,  whether  they  were  to  take  effect  im- 
mediately, or  after  waking. 

In  L,ucie's  case  this  went  further,  and  the 
suggested  actions  became  absolutely  a  portion  of 
the  trance-life.  She  executed  them  without 
apparently  knowing  what  she  was  doing.  If,  for 
instance,  in  her  waking  state  she  was  told  (in  the 
tone  which  in  her  hypnotic  state  signified  com- 
mand) to  get  up  and  walk  about,  she  walked  about, 
but  to  judge  from  her  conversation  she  supposed 
herself  to  be  still  sitting  quiet.  She  would  weep 
violently  when  commanded,  but  while  she  wept  she 
continued  to  talk  as  gaily  and  unconcernedly  as 
if  the  tears  had  been  turned  on  by  a  stop-cock. 

Any  suggestion  uttered  by  M.  Janet  in  a 
brusque  tone  of  command  reached  the  Uncon- 
scious Self  alone  ;  and  other  remarks  reached  the 
subject — awake  or  somnambulic — in  the  ordinary 
way.  The  next  step  was  to  test  the  intelligence  of 


38  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

this  hidden  "  slave  of  the  lamp,"  if  I  may  so  term  it 
— this  sub-conscious  and  indifferent  executor  of  all 
that  was  bidden.  How  far  was  its  attention  alert  ? 
How  far  was  it  capable  of  reasoning  and  judg- 
ment ?  M.  Janet  began  with  a  simple  experi- 
ment. '  When  I  shall  have  clapped  my  hands 
together  twelve  times,"  he  said  to  the  entranced 
subject  before  awakening  her,  "  you  will  go  to  sleep 
again.'*  There  was  no  sign  that  the  sleeper  under- 
stood or  heard  ;  and  when  she  was  awakened 
the  events  of  the  trance  were  a  blank  to  her  as 
usual.  She  began  talking  to  other  persons.  M. 
Janet,  at  some  little  distance,  clapped  his  hands 
feebly  together  five  times.  Seeing  that  she  did  not 
seem  to  be  attending  to  him,  he  went  up  to  her 
and  said,  "  Did  you  hear  what  I  did  just  now  ?  " 
"  No  ;  what  ?  '  "  Do  you  hear  this  ?  "  and  he 
clapped  his  hands  once  more.  "  Yes,  you  clapped 
your  hands."  "  How  often  ?  "  "  Once/'  M.  Janet 
again  withdrew  and  clapped  his  hands  six  times 
gently,  with  pauses  between  the  claps.  L,ucie  paid 
no  apparent  attention,  but  when  the  sixth  clap  of 
this  second  series — making  the  twelfth  altogether 
— was  reached,  she  fell  instantly  into  the  trance 
again.  It  seemed,  then,  that  the  "  slave  of  the 
lamp  "  had  counted  the  claps  through  all,  and 
had  obeyed  the  order  much  as  a  clock  strikes  after 
a  certain  number  of  swings  of  the  pendulum, 
however  often  you  stop  it  between  hour  and  hour. 
Thus  far,  the  knowledge  gained  as  to  the  un- 
conscious element  in  I^ucie  was  not  direct,  but 
inferential.  The  nature  of  the  command  which  it 
could  execute  showed  it  to  be  capable  of  attention 


THE  GHOST  THAT  DWEU,S  IN  EACH  OF  Us     39 

and  memory  ;  but  there  was  no  way  of  learning  its 
own  conception  of  itself,  if  such  existed,  or  of 
determining  its  relation  to  other  phenomena  of 
I,ucie's  trance.  And  here  it  was  that  automatic 
writing  was  successfully  invoked  ;  here  we  have, 
as  I  may  say,  the  first  fruits  in  France  of  the  new 
attention  directed  to  this  seldom- trodden  field. 
M.  Janet  began  by  the  following  simple  command  : 
'  When  I  clap  my  hands  you  will  write  Bonjour." 
This  was  done  in  the  usual  scrawling  script  of 
automatism,  and  L,ucie,  though  fully  awake,  was 
not  aware  that  she  had  written  anything  at  all. 

M.  Janet  simply  ordered  the  entranced  girl 
to  write  answers  to  all  questions  of  his  after  her 
waking.  The  command  thus  given  had  a  per- 
sistent effect,  and  while  the  awakened  L,ucie 
continued  to  chatter  as  usual  with  other  persons, 
her  Unconscious  Self  wrote  brief  and  scrawling 
responses  to  M.  Janet's  questions.  This  was  the 
moment  at  which,  in  many  cases,  a  new  and  in- 
vading separate  personality  is  assumed. 

A   singular   conversation  gave  to  this  limited^ 
creation,  this  statutory  intelligence,  an  identity    \ 
sufficient   for   practical   convenience.     "  Do   you    j 
hear  me  ?  "  asked  Professor  Janet.    Answer  (by    / 
writing),  "  No/'     "  But  in  order  to  answer   one  / 
must  hear."    "  Certainly/'     "  Then  how  do  you  \ 
manage  ?  "     "I  don't  know."    "  There  must  be 
somebody  that  hears  me."    '  Yes."   "  Who  is  it  ?  " 
"  Not  lyucie."   "  Oh,  some  one  else  ?    Shall  we  call 
her  Blanche  ?  ':    "  Yes,  Blanche."   Blanche,  how- 
ever, had  to  be  changed.     Another  name  had  to 
be    chosen.       '  What    name    will   you   have  ?\^ 


40  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

"  No  name."  "  You  must,  it  will  be  more  con- 
venient/' '  Well,  then,  Adrienne."  Never,  per- 
haps, has  a  personality  had  less  spontaneity  about 
it. 

Yet  Adrienne  was  in  some  respects  deeper 
down  than  lyucie.  She  could  get  at  the  genesis 
of  certain  psychical  manifestations  of  which  lyucie 
experienced  only  the  results.  A  striking  instance 
of  this  was  afforded  by  the  phenomena  of  the 
hystero-epileptic  attacks  to  which  this  patient  was 
subject. 

lyucie's  special  terror,  which  recurred  in  wild 
exclamation  in  her  hysterical  fits,  was  in  some  way 
connected  with  hidden  men.  She  could  not,  how- 
ever, recollect  the  incident  to  which  her  cries 
referred  ;  she  only  knew  that  she  had  had  a  severe 
fright  at  seven  years  old,  and  an  illness  in  conse- 
quence. Now,  during  these  "crises"  lyucie 
(except,  presumably,  in  the  periods  of  unconscious- 
ness which  form  a  pretty  constant  element  in  such 
attacks)  could  hear  what  Prof.  Janet  said  to  her. 
Adrienne,  on  the  contrary,  was  hard  to  get  at ; 
could  no  longer  obey  orders,  and  if  she  wrote, 
wrote  only  "  J'ai  peur,  j'ai  peur." 

M.  Janet,  however,  waited  until  the  attack 
was  over,  and  then  questioned  Adrienne  as  to  the 
true  meaning  of  the  agitated  scene.  Adrienne 
was  able  to  describe  to  him  the  terrifying  incident 
in  her  childish  life  which  had  originated  the  con- 
fused hallucinations  which  recurred  during  the 
attack.  She  could  not  explain  the  recrudescence 
of  the  hallucinations  ;  but  she  knew  what  I/ucie 
saw,  and  why  she  saw  it ;  nay,  indeed,  it  was 


THK  GHOST  THAT  DWEU,S  IN  EACH  OF  Us     41 

Adrienne,  rather  than  lyUcie,  to  whom  the  hallu- 
cination was  directly  visible. 

Lucie,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  a  hysterical 
patient  very  seriously  amiss.  One  conspicuous 
symptom  was  an  almost  absolute  defect  of  sensi- 
bility, whether  to  pain,  to  heat,  or  to  contact, 
which  persisted  both  when  she  was  awake  and 
entranced.  There  was,  as  already  mentioned,  an 
entire  defect  of  the  muscular  sense  also,  so  that 
when  her  eyes  were  shut  she  did  not  know  the 
position  of  her  limbs.  Nevertheless  it  was  re- 
marked as  an  anomaly  that  when  she  was  thrown 
into  a  cataleptic  state,  not  only  did  the  movements 
impressed  upon  her  continue  to  be  made,  but  the 
corresponding  or  complimentary  movements,  the 
corresponding  facial  expression,  followed  just  as 
they  usually  follow  in  such  experiments.  Thus, 
if  M.  Janet  clenched  her  fist  in  the  cataleptic  state, 
her  arm  began  to  deal  blows,  and  her  face  assumed 
a  look  of  anger.  The  suggestion  which  was  given 
through  the  so-called  muscular  sense  had  operated 
in  a  subject  to  whom  the  muscular  sense,  as  tested 
in  other  ways,  seemed  to  be  wholly  lacking.  As 
soon  as  Adrienne  could  be  communicated  with,  it 
was  possible  to  get  somewhat  nearer  to  a  solution 
of  this  puzzle.  I/ucie  was  thrown  into  catalepsy  ; 
then  M.  Janet  clenched  her  left  hand  (she  began  at 
once  to  strike  out),  put  a  pencil  in  her  right,  and 
said,  "  Adrienne,  what  are  you  doing  ?  '  The  left 
hand  continued  to  strike,  and  the  face  to  bear  the 
look  of  rage,  while  the  right  hand  wrote,  "  I  am 
furious/  "  With  whom  ?  '  '  With  F."  '  Why  ?  " 
''  I  don't  know,  but  I  am  very  angry."  M.  Janet 


42  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

then  unclenched  the  subject's  left  hand,  and  put 
it  gently  to  her  lips.  It  began  to  "blow  kisses/' 
and  the  face  smiled.  "  Adrienne,  are  you  still 
angry  ?  '  "  No,  that's  over.'  "  And  now  ?  " 
"  Oh,  I  am  happy  !  "  "  And  Lucie  ?  '  "  She 
knows  nothing  ;  she  is  asleep." 

In  lyucie's  case,  indeed,  these  odd  manifesta- 
tions were — as  the  pure  experimentalist  might 
say — only  too  sanative,  only  too  rapidly  tending 
to  normality.  M.  Janet  accompanied  his  psycho- 
logical inquiries  with  therapeutic  suggestion,  tell- 
ing Adrienne  not  only  to  go  to  sleep  when  he 
clapped  his  hands,  or  to  answer  his  questions  in 
writing,  but  to  cease  having  headaches,  to  cease 
having  convulsive  attacks,  to  recover  normal 
sensibility,  and  so  on.  Adrienne  obeyed,  and  even 
as  she  obeyed  the  rational  command,  her  own 
Undine-like  identity  vanished  away.  The  day 
came  when  M.  Janet  called  on  Adrienne,  andL,ucie 
laughed  and  asked  him  who  he  was  talking  to. 
Lucie  was  now  a  healthy  young  woman,  but 
Adrienne,  who  had  risen  out  of  the  unconscious, 
had  sunk  into  the  unconscious  again — must  I 
say  ? — for  ever  more. 

Few  lives  so  brief  have  taught  so  many  lessons. 
For  us  who  are  busied  with  automatic  writing  the 
lesson  is  clear.  We  have  here  demonstrably  what 
we  can  find  in  other  cases  only  inferentially,  an 
intelligence  manifesting  itself  continuously  by 
written  answers,  of  purport  quite  outside  the 
normal  subject's  conscious  mind,  while  yet  that 
intelligence  was  but  a  part,  a  fraction,  an  aspect, 
of  the  normal  subject's  own  identity. 


THE  GHOST  THAT  DWBUWS  IN  EACH  OF  Us     43 

And  we  must  remember  that  Adrienne — while 
she  was,  if  I  may  say  so,  the  Unconscious  Self 
reduced  to  its  simplest  expression — did,  neverthe- 
less, manifest  certain  differences  from  L,ucie,  which, 
if  slightly  exaggerated,  might  have  been  very  per- 
plexing. Her  handwriting  was  slightly  different, 
though  only  in  the  loose  and  scrawling  character 
so  frequent  in  automatic  script.  Again,  Adrienne 
remembered  certain  incidents  in  I,ucie's  childhood 
which  lyucie  had  wholly  forgotten.  Once  more— 
and  this  last  suggestion  points  to  positive  rather 
than  to  negative  conclusions — Adrienne  possessed 
a  faculty,  the  muscular  sense,  of  which  L^ucie  was 
devoid.  I  am  anxious  that  this  point  especially 
should  be  firmly  grasped,  for  I  wish  the  reader's 
mind  to  be  perfectly  open  as  regards  the  relative 
faculties  of  the  Conscious  and  the  Unconscious 
Self.  It  is  plain  that  we  must  be  on  the  watch  for 
completion,  for  evolution,  as  well  as  for  partition, 
for  dissolution,  of  the  corporate  being. 

F'elida  X.  and  her  Submerged  Soul. 

Side  by  side  with  this  case  we  have  another  in 
which  the  Conscious  Personality,  instead  of  being 
cured,  has  been  superseded  by  the  Sub-conscious. 
It  was  as  if  instead  of  "  Adrienne  "  being  sub- 
merged by  Lucie,  "  Adrienne  "  became  Lucie  and 
dethroned  her  former  master.  The  woman  in 
question,  Felida  X.,  has  been  transformed. 

In  her  case  the  somnambulic  life  has  become 
the  normal  life  ;  the  "  second  state/'  which  ap- 
peared at  first  only  in  short,  dream-like  accesses, 
has  gradually  replaced  the  '  first  state/  which  now 


44  REAI<  GHOST  STORIES 

recurs  but  for  a  few  hours  at  long  intervals. 
Felida's  second  state  is  altogether  superior  to  the 
first — physically  superior,  since  the  nervous  pains 
which  had  troubled  her  from  childhood  had  dis- 
appeared ;  and  morally  superior,  inasmuch  as  her 
morose,  self-centred  disposition  is  exchanged  for  a 
cheerful  activity  which  enables  her  to  attend  to 
her  children  and  to  her  shop  much  more  effectively 
than  when  she  was  in  the  Hat  bete,  as  she  now  calls 
what  was  once  the  only  personality  that  she  knew. 
In  this  case,  then,  which  is  now  of  nearly  thirty 
years'  standing,  the  spontaneous  readjustment  of 
nervous  activities — the  second  state,  no  memory  of 
which  remains  in  the  first  state — has  resulted  in  an 
improvement  profounder  than  could  have  been 
anticipated  from  any  moral  or  medical  treatment 
that  we  know.  The  case  shows  us  how  often  the 
word  "normal"  means  nothing  more  than  "what 
happens  to  exist."  For  Felida's  normal  state  was 
in  fact  her  morbid  state  ;  and  the  new  condition 
which  seemed  at  first  a  mere  hysterical  abnor- 
mality, has  brought  her  to  a  life  of  bodily  and 
mental  sanity,  which  makes  her  fully  the  equal  of 
average  women  of  her  class.  (Vol.  IV.  p.  503.) 


CHAPTER  III. 
MADAME  B.  AND  HER  THREE  Soui,s. 

MARVELOUS  as  the  cases  cited  in  the  last 
chapter  appear,  they  are  thrown  entirely  into  the 
shade  by  the  case  of  Madame  B.,  in  which  the  two 
personalities  not  only  exist  side  by  side,  but  in  the 
case  of  the  Sub-conscious  self  knowingly  co-exist, 
while  over  or  beneath  both  there  is  a  third  person- 
ality which  is  aware  of  both  the  other  two,  and 
apparently  superior  to  both.  The  possibilities 
which  this  case  opens  up  are  bewildering  indeed. 
But  it  is  better  to  state  the  case  fiist  and  discuss  it 
afterwards.  Madame  B.,  who  is  still  under  Prof. 
Richet's  observations,*  is  one  of  the  favourite  sub- 
jects of  the  French  hypnotiser.  She  can  be  put  to 
sleep  at  almost  any  distance,  and  when  hypnotised 
completely  changes  her  character.  There  are 
two  well-defined  personalities  in  her,  and  a  third 
of  a  more  mysterious  nature  than  either  of  the  two 
first.  The  normal  waking  state  of  the  woman  is 
called  Leonie  I.,  the  hypnotic  state  Leonie  II. 
The  third  occult  Unconscious  Personality  of  the 
lowest  depth  is  called  Leonie  III. 

"  This  poor  peasant/'  says  Professor  Janet, 
"is  in  her  normal  state  a  serious  and  somewhat 
melancholy  woman,  calm  and  slow,  very  gentle 
and  extremely  timid.  No  one  would  suspect  the 
existence  of  the  person  whom  she  includes  within 

*  1891. 


46  RBAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

her.  Hardly  is  she  entranced  when  she  is  meta- 
morphosed ;  her  face  is  no  longer  the  same  ;  her 
eyes,  indeed,  remain  closed,  but  the  acuteness 
of  the  other  senses  compensates  for  the  loss  of  sight. 
She  becomes  gay,  noisy,  and  restless  to  an  in- 
supportable degree  ;  she  continues  good-natured, 
but  she  has  acquired  a  singular  tendency  to  irony 
and  bitter  jests.  ...  In  this  state  she  does  not 
recognise  her  identity  with  her  waking  self. 
'  That  good  woman  is  not  I/  she  says  ;  '  she  is 
too  stupid  !  ' 

Madame  B.  has  been  so  often  hypnotised,  and 
during  so  many  years  (for  she  was  hypnotised  by 
other  physicians  as  long  ago  as  1860),  that  Leonie 
II.  has  by  this  time  acquired  a  considerable  stock 
of  memories  which  Madame  B.  does  not  share. 
I/eonie  II.,  therefore,  counts  as  properly  belonging 
to  her  own  history  and  not  to  Madame  B.'s  all 
the  events  which  have  taken  place  while  Madame 
B.'s  normal  self  was  hypnotised  into  unconscious- 
ness. It  was  not  always  easy  at  first  to  under- 
stand this  partition  of  past  experiences. 

"  Madame  B.  in  the  normal  state,"  says  Pro- 
fessor Janet,  "  has  a  husband  and  children.  L,eonie 
II.,  speaking  in  the  somnambulistic  trance,  attri- 
butes the  husband  to  the  '  other  '  (Madame  B.), 
but  attributes  the  children  to  herself.  ...  At 
last  I  learnt  that  her  former  mesmerisers,  as  bold 
in  their  practice  as  certain  hypnotisers  of  to-day, 
had  induced  somnambulism  at  the  time  of  her 
accouchements.  I^eonie  II.,  therefore,  was  quite 
right  in  attributing  the  children  to  herself  ;  the 
rule  of  partition  was  unbroken,  and  the  somnam- 


THE  GHOST  THAT  DWEU,S  IN  EACH  OF  Us     47 

bulism  was  characterised  by  a  duplication  of  the 
subject's  existence"  (p.  391). 

Still  more  extraordinary  are  L,eonie  II /s  at- 
tempts to  make  use  of  Leonie  I.'s  limbs  without 
her  knowledge  or  against  her  will.  She  will  write 
postscripts  to  Leonie  I/s  letters,  of  the  nature  of 
which  poor  L,eonie  I.  is  unconscious. 

It  seems,  however,  that  when  once  set  up  this 
new  personality  can  occasionally  assume  the 
initiative,  and  can  say  what  it  wants  to  say  with- 
out any  prompting.  This  is  curiously  illustrated 
by  what  may  be  termed  a  conjoint  epistle  ad- 
dressed to  Professor  Janet  by  Madame  B.  and  her 
secondary  self,  L,eonie  II.  "She  had/'  he  says, 
"  left  Havre  more  than  two  months  when  I  received 
from  her  a  very  curious  letter.  On  the  first  page 
was  a  short  note  written  in  a  serious  and  respectful 
style.  She  was  unwell,  she  said — worse  on  some 
days  than  on  others — and  she  signed  her  true 
name,  Madame  B.  But  over  the  page  began 
another  letter  in  quite  a  different  style,  and  which 
I  may  quote  as  a  curiosity  : — '  My  dear  good 
sir, — I  must  tell  you  that  B.  really  makes  me 
suffer  very  much  ;  she  cannot  sleep,  she  spits 
blood,  she  hurts  me.  I  am  going  to  demolish  her, 
she  bores  me.  I  am  ill  also.  This  is  from  your 
devoted  I/eontine '  (the  name  first  given  to 
Leonie  II.). 

"  When  Madame  B.  returned  to  Havre  I  natur- 
ally questioned  her  concerning  this  curious  missive. 
She  remembered  the  first  letter  very  distinctly, 
but  she  had  not  the  slightest  recollection  of  the 
second.  I  at  first  thought  there  must  have  been 


48  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

an  attack  of  spontaneous  somnambulism  between 
the  moment  when  she  finished  the  first  letter  and 
the  moment  when  she  closed  the  envelope.  But 
afterwards  these  unconscious,  spontaneous  letters 
became  common,  and  I  was  better  able  to  study 
the  mode  of  their  production.  I  was  fortunately 
able  to  watch  Madame  B.  on  one  occasion  while 
she  went  through  this  curious  performance.  She 
was  seated  at  a  table,  and  held  in  the  left  hand  the 
piece  of  knitting  at  which  she  had  been  working. 
Her  face  was  calm,  her  eyes  looked  into  space 
with  a  certain  fixity,  but  she  was  not  cataleptic, 
for  she  was  humming  a  rustic  tune ;  her  right 
hand  wrote  quickly,  and,  as  it  were,  surrepti- 
tiously. I  removed  the  paper  without  her  noticing 
me,  and  then  spoke  to  her  ;  she  turned  round 
wide-awake  but  was  surprised  to  see  me,  for  in 
her  state  of  distraction  she  had  not  noticed  my 
approach.  Of  the  letter  which  she  was  writing  she 
knew  nothing  whatever. 

'  lyeonie  II. 's  independent  action  is  not  entirely 
confined  to  writing  letters.  She  observed  (appar- 
ently) that  when  her  primary  self,  lyeonie  I.,  dis- 
covered these  letters  she  (lyeonie  I.)  tore  them  up. 
So  lyeonie  II.  hit  upon  a  plan  of  placing  them  in  a 
photographic  album  into  which  lyeonie  I.  could 
not  look  without  falling  into  catalepsy  (on  account 
of  an  association  of  ideas  with  Dr.  Gibert,  whose 
portrait  had  been  in  the  album).  In  order  to 
accomplish  an  act  like  this  lyeonie  II.  has  to  wait 
for  a  moment  when  lyeonie  I.  is  distracted,  or,  as 
we  say,  absent-minded.  If  she  can  catch  her  in 
this  state  lyeonie  II.  can  direct  lyeonie  I/s  walks, 


THE  GHOST  THAT  DWEU,S  IN  EACH  OF  Us     49 

for  instance,  or  start  on  a  long  railway  journey 
without  baggage,  in  order  to  get  to  Havre  as 
quickly  as  possible/' 

In  the  whole  realm  of  imaginative  literature,  is 
there  anything  to  compare  to  this  actual  fact  of 
three  selves  in  one  body,  each  struggling  to  get 
possession  of  it  ?  I/onie  I.,  or  the  Conscious 
Personality,  is  in  possession  normally,  but  is 
constantly  being  ousted  by  L,eonie  II.,  or  the  Sub- 
conscious Personality.  It  is  the  old,  old  case  of 
the  wife  trying  to  wear  the  breeches.  But  there  is 
a  fresh  terror  beyond.  For  behind  both  L,eonie  I. 
and  lyeonie  II.  stands  the  mysterious  lyeonie  III. 

"  The  spontaneous  acts  of  the  Unconscious 
Self,"  saysM.  Janet,  here  meaning  by  I' inconscient 
the  entity  to  which  he  has  given  the  name  of 
L,eonie  III.,  "  may  also  assume  a  very  reasonable 
form — a  form  which,  were  it  better  understood, 
might  perhaps  serve  to  explain  certain  cases  of 
insanity.  Mme.  B.,  during  her  somnambulism 
(i,e,  L,eonie  II.)  had  had  a  sort  of  hysterical  crisis  ; 
she  was  restless  and  noisy  and  I  could  not  quiet 
her.  Suddenly  she  stopped  and  said  to  me  with 
terror.  '  Oh,  who  is  talking  to  me  like  that  ?  It 
frightens  me/  '  No  one  is  talking  to  you/ 
'  Yes  !  there  on  the  left !  '  And  she  got  up  and 
tried  to  open  a  wardrobe  on  her  left  hand,  to  see 
if  some  one  was  hidden  there.  '  What  is  that 
you  hear  ?  '  I  asked.  '  I  hear  on  the  left  a  voice 
which  repeats,  "  Enough,  enough,  be  quiet,  you  are 
a  nuisance."  Assuredly  the  voice  which  thus 
spoke  was  a  reasonable  one,  for  lyeonie  II.  was 
insupportable  ;  but  I  had  suggested  nothing  cf 


50  REAI,  GHOST  STORIKS 

the  kind,  and  had  no  idea  of  inspiring  a  hallucin- 
ation of  hearing.  Another  day  L,eonie  II.  was 
quite  calm,  but  obstinately  refused  to  answer  a 
question  which  I  asked.  Again  she  heard  with 
terror  the  same  voice  to  the  left,  saying,  '  Come, 
be  sensible,  you  must  answer/  Thus  the  Uncon- 
scious sometimes  gave  her  excellent  advice." 

And  in  effect,  as  soon  as  L,eonie  III.  was  sum- 
moned into  communication,  she  accepted  the 
responsibility  of  this  counsel.  '  What  was  it  that 
happened  ?  "  asked  M.  Janet,  "  when  Leonie  II. 
was  so  frightened  ?  '  "  Oh  !  nothing.  It  was  I 
who  told  her  to  keep  quiet ;  I  saw  she  was  annoy- 
ing you ;  I  don't  know  why  she  was  so  frightened." 

Note  the  significance  of  this  incident.  Here 
we  have  got  at  the  root  of  a  hallucination.  We 
have  not  merely  inferential  but  direct  evidence 
that  the  imaginary  voice  which  terrified  L,eonie  II. 
proceeded  from  a  profounder  stratum  of  con- 
sciousness in  the  same  individual.  In  what  way, 
by  the  aid  of  what  nervous  mechanism,  was  the 
startling  monition  conveyed  ? 

Just  as  Mme.  B.  was  sent,  by  means  of  passes, 
into  a  state  of  lethargy,  from  which  she  emerged  as 
Leonie  II.,  so  lyeonie  II.,  in  her  turn,  was  reduced 
by  renewed  passes  to  a  state  of  lethargy  from  which 
she  emerged  no  longer  as  I^eonie  II.  but  as  Leonie 
III.  This  second  waking  is  slow  and  gradual, 
but  the  personality  which  emerges  is,  in  one  impor- 
tant point,  superior  to  either  Leonie  I.  or  Leonie  II. 
Although  one  among  ^the  subject's  phases,  this 
phase  possesses  the  memory  of  every  phase. 
III.,  like  lyeonie  II.,  knows  the  normal  life 


THK  GHOST  THAT  DWBU,S  IN  EACH  OF  Us     51 

of  Leonie  L,  but  distinguishes  herself  from  L,eonie 
I.,  in  whom,  it  must  be  said,  these  subjacent  per- 
sonalities appear  to  take  little  interest.  But 
L,eonie  III.  also  remembers  the  life  of  lyeonie  II. — 
condemns  her  as  noisy  and  frivolous,  and  is  anxious 
not  to  be  confounded  with  her  either.  "  Vous 
voyez  bien  que  je  ne  suis  pas  cette  bavarde,  cette 
folle  ;  nous  ne  nous  ressemblons  pas  du  tout." 

We  ask,  in  amazement,  how  many  more  per- 
sonalities may  there  not  be  hidden  in  the  human 
frame  ?  Here  is  simple  Madame  B.,  who  is  not 
one  person  but  three — first  her  commonplace 
self ;  secondly,  the  clever,  chattering  Leonie  II., 
who  is  bored  by  B.,  and  who  therefore  wants  to 
demolish  her  ;  and  thirdly,  the  lordly  Leonie  III., 
who  issues  commands  that  strike  terror  into 
Leonie  II.,  and  disdains  to  be  identified  with 
either  of  the  partners  in  Madame  B.'s  body. 

It  is  evident,  if  the  hypnotists  are  right,  that  the 
human  body  is  more  like  a  tenement  house  than  a 
single  cell,  and  that  the  inmates  love  each  other 
no  more  than  the  ordinary  occupants  of  tene- 
mented  property.  But  how  many  are  there  of 
us  within  each  skin  who  can  say  ? 


CHAPTER  IV. 
SOME  SUGGESTED  THEORIES. 

OF  theories  to  account  for  these  strange  pheno- 
mena there  are  enough  and  to  spare.  I  do  not  for  a 
moment  venture  to  claim  for  the  man  and  wife 
illustration  the  slightest  scientific  value.  It  is  only 
a  figure  of  speech  which  brings  out  very  clearly  one 
aspect  of  the  problem  of  personality.  The  theory 
that  there  are  two  independent  personalities  within 
the  human  skin  is  condemned  by  all  orthodox 
psychologists.  There  is  one  personality  manifest- 
ing itself,  usually  consciously,  but  occasionally 
unconsciously,  and  the  different  method  of  mani- 
festation differs  so  widely  as  to  give  the  impression 
that  there  could  not  be  the  same  personality 
behind  both.  A  man  who  is  ambidextrous  will 
sign  his  name  differently  with  his  right  or  left 
hand,  but  it  is  the  same  signature.  Mr.  Myers 
thinks  that  the  Secondary  Personality  of  Sublim- 
inal Consciousness  is  merely  a  phase  of  the  essential 
Unity  of  the  Ego.  Some  time  ago  he  expressed 
himself  on  this  subject  as  follows  :— 

"  I  hold  that  hypnotism  (itself  a  word  covering 
a  vast  variety  of  different  states)  may  be  regarded 
as  constituting  one  special  case  which  falls  under 
a  far  wider  category — the  category,  namely,  of 
developments  of  a  Secondary  Personality.  I  hold 
that  we  each  of  us  contain  the  potentialities  of 
many  different  arrangements  of  the  elements  of 


THE  GHOST  THAT  DWEI^S  IN  EACH  OF  Us     53 

our  personality,  each  arrangement  being  dis- 
tinguishable from  the  rest  by  differences  in  the 
chain  of  memories  which  pertain  to  it.  The 
arrangement  with  which  we  habitually  identify 
ourselves — what  we  call  the  normal  or  primary 
self — consists,  in  my  view,  of  elements  selected 
for  us  in  the  struggle  for  existence  with  special 
reference  to  the  maintenance  of  ordinary  physical 
needs,  and  is  not  necessarily  superior  in  any  other 
respect  to  the  latent  personalities  which  lie  along- 
side of  it — the  fresh  combinations  of  our  personal 
elements  which  may  be  evoked  by  accident  or 
design,  in  a  variety  to  which  we  at  present  can 
assign  no  limit.  I  consider  that  dreams,  with 
natural  somnambulism,  automatic  writing,  with 
so-called  mediumistic  trance,  as  well  as  certain 
intoxications,  epilepsies,  hysterias,  and  recurrent 
insanities,  afford  examples  of  the  development  of 
what  I  have  called  secondary  mnemonic  chains  ; 
fresh  personalities,  more  or  less  complete,  alongside 
the  normal  state.  And  I  would  add  that  hypnotism 
is  only  the  name  given  to  a  group  of  empirical 
methods  of  inducing  these  fresh  personalities." 

A  doctor  in  philosophy,  to  whom  I  submitted 
these  pages,  writes  me  as  follows  : — "  There  can 
be  no  doubt  that  every  man  lives  a  sub-conscious 
as  well  as  a  conscious  life.  One  side  of  him  is 
closed  against  examination  by  himself  (i.e.  un- 
conscious) ;  the  other  is  conscious  of  itself.  The 
former  carries  on  processes  of  separation,  com- 
bination, and  distribution,  of  the  thought-stuff 
handed  over  to  it,  corresponding  almost  exactly 
to  the  processes  carried  on  by  the  stomach,  which, 


54  REAL  GHOST  STORIES 

as  compared  with  those  of  eating,  etc.,  go  on  in 
the  dark  automatically." 

Another  doctor,  not  of  philosophy  but  of  medi- 
cine, who  has  devoted  special  attention  to  the 
phenomenon  of  sleep,  suggests  a  new  illustration 
which  is  graphic  and  suggestive.  He  writes  :— 

'  With  regard  to  dual  or  multiple  consciousness, 
my  own  feeling  has  always  been  that  the  indi- 
viduals stand  one  behind  the  other  in  the  chambers 
of  the  mind,  or  else,  as  it  were,  in  concentric  circles. 
You  may  compare  it  to  the  Jewish  tabernacle. 
First,  there  is  the  court  of  the  Gentiles,  where 
Ego  No.  1  chaffers  about  trifles  with  the  outer 
world.  While  he  is  so  doing  Ego  No.  2  watches 
him  from  the  court  of  the  Levites,  but  does  not 
go  forth  on  small  occasions.  When  we  '  open  out  ' 
to  a  friend  the  Levite  comes  forth,  and  is  in  turn 
watched  by  the  priest  from  the  inner  court.  L,et 
our  emotions  be  stirred  in  sincere  converse  and 
out  strides  the  priest,  and  takes  precedence  of 
the  other  two,  they  falling  obediently  and  sub- 
missively behind  him.  But  the  priest  is  still 
watched  by  the  high  priest  from  the  tabernacle 
itself,  and  only  on  great  and  solemn  occasions 
does  he  make  himself  manifest  by  action.  When 
he  does,  the  other  three  yield  to  his  authority, 
and  then  we  say  the  man  '  speaks  with  his  whole 
soul '  and  '  from  the  bottom  of  his  heart/  But 
even  now  the  Shekinah  is  upon  the  mercy-seat 
within  the  Holy  of  holies,  and  the  high  priest 
knows  it." 

The  latest  word*  of  the  French  psychologists  is 
thus  stated  by  M.  Foiiillee  : — 

*  1891. 


THE  GHOST  THAT  DWEU,S  IN  EACH  OF  Us     55 

"  Contemporary  psychology  deprives  us  of  the 
illusion  of  a  definitely  limited,  impenetrable,  and 
absolutely  autonomous  I.  The  conception  of 
individual  consciousness  must  be  of  an  idea  rather 
than  of  a  substance.  Though  separate  in  the 
universe,  we  are  not  separate  from  the  universe. 
Continuity  and  reciprocity  of  action  exist  every- 
where. This  is  the  great  law  and  the  great  mys- 
tery. There  is  no  such  thing  as  an  isolated  and 
veritably  monad  being,  any  more  than  there  is 
such  a  thing  as  an  indivisible  point,  except  in  the 
abstractions  of  geometry." 

Whatever  may  be  the  true  theory,  it  is  evident 
that  there  is  enough  mystery  about  personality 
to  make  us  very  diffident  about  dogmatising, 
especially  as  to  what  is  possible  and  what  is  not. 

Whether  we  have  one  mind  or  two,  let  us,  at 
least,  keep  it  (or  them)  open. 


PART  II. 

THE  THOUGHT  BODY,  OR  THE  DOUBLE. 


"  And  as  Peter  knocked  at  the  door  of  the.  gate,  a  damsel  came  to 
hearken,  named  Rhoda.  And  when  she  knew  Peter's  voice,  she  ran  in 
and  told  how  Peter  stood  before  the  gate.  And  they  said  unto  her, 
Thou  art  mad.  But  she  constantly  affirmed  that  it  v»  as  even  so.  Then 
said  they,  It  is  his  angel  (or  double)." — ACTS  xil.  13-15. 


CHAPTER  I. 


AERIAI,  JOURNEYINGS. 

I  BEGAN  to  write  this  in  the  autumn  of  1891 
in  a  small  country-house  among  the  Surrey  hills, 
whither  I  had  retreated  in  order  to  find  undis- 
turbed leisure  in  which  to  arrange  my  ideas  and 
array  my  facts.  It  was  a  pleasant  place  enough, 
perched  on  the  brow  of  a  heath-covered  slope 
that  dipped  down  to  a  ravine,  at  the  head  of  which 
stands  Professor  Tyndall's  house  with  its  famous 
screen.  Hardly  a  mile  away  northward  lies  the 
Devil's  Punch  Bowl,  with  its  memorial  stone 
erected  in  abhorrence  of  the  detestable  murder 
perpetrated  on  its  rim  by  ruffians  whose  corpses 
slowly  rotted  as  they  swung  on  the  gibbet  over- 
head ;  far  to  the  south  spreads  the  glorious 


THE  THOUGHT  BODY,  OR  THE  DOUBLE  57 

amphitheatre  of  hills  which  constitute  the  High- 
lands of  the  South. 

The  Portsmouth  road,  along  which  for  hundreds 
of  years  rolled  to  and  fro  the  tide  of  martial  life 
between  London  and  the  great  Sea  Gate  of  the 
Realm,  lies  near  by,  silent  and  almost  disused. 
Mr.  Balfour's  land,  on  the  brow  of  Hindhead,  is 
enclosed  but  not  yet  built  upon,  although  a  whole 
archipelago  of  cottages  and  villas  is  springing  up 
amid  the  heather  as  the  ground  slopes  towards 
Selborne — White's  Selborne — that  can  dimly  be 
descried  to  the  westward  beyond  L/iphook  Com- 
mon. Memories  there  are,  enough  and  to  spare, 
of  the  famous  days  of  old,  and  of  the  not  less 
famous  men  of  our  own  time  ;  but  the  ghosts 
have  fled.  "  There  used  to  be  a  ghost  in  the 
mill/'  said  my  driver,  "  and  another  in  a  com- 
paratively new  house  over  in  L,ord  Tennyson's 
direction,  but  we  hear  nothing  about  them  now/' 
"  Not  even  at  the  Murder  Stone  of  the  Devil's 
Punch  Bowl  ?  '  "  Not  even  at  the  Murder  Stone. 
I  have  driven  past  it  at  all  hours,  and  never  saw 
anything — but  the  stone,  of  course." 

Yet  a  more  suitable  spot  for  a  ghost  could 
hardly  be  conceived  than  the  rim  of  the  Devil's 
Punch  Bowl,  where  the  sailor  was  murdered,  and 
where  afterwards  his  murderers  were  hanged.  I 
visited  it  late  at  night,  when  the  young  moon 
was  beginning  to  struggle  through  the  cloudy 
sky,  and  looked  down  into  the  ravine  which 
Cobbett  declared  was  the  most  horrid  place  God 
ever  made  ;  but  no  sign  of  ghostly  visitant  could 
be  caught  among  the  bracken,  no  sound  of  the 


58  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

dead  voices  was  audible  in  the  air.  It  is  the  way 
with  ghosts — they  seldom  appear  where  they 
might  be  looked  for.  It  is  the  unexpected  in  the 
world  of  shadows,  as  in  the  workaday  world, 
which  always  happens. 

Of  this  I  had  soon  a  very  curious  illustration. 
For,  although  there  were  no  ghosts  in  the  Devil's 
Punch  Bowl  by  the  Murder  Stone,  I  found  that 
there  had  been  a  ghost  in  the  trim  new  little  villa 
in  which  I  was  quartered  !  It  didn't  appear  to 
me — at  least,  it  has  not  done  so  as  yet.  But  it 
appeared  to  some  friends  of  mine  whose  statement 
is  explicit  enough.  Here  was  a  find  indeed."  I 
spent  most  of  my  boyhood  within  a  mile  of  the 
famous  haunted  house  or  mill  at  Willington,  but 
I  had  never  slept  before  in  a  place  which  ghosts 
used  as  a  try  sting,  place.  I  asked  my  hostess 
about  it.  She  replied,  "  Yes,  it  is  quite  true  ;  but, 
although  you  may  not  believe  it,  I  am  the  ghost." 
'  You  ?  How  ?  '  '  Yes,"  she  replied,  quite 
seriously  ;  "it  is  quite  true  what  your  friends 
have  told  you.  They  did  see  what  you  would 
correctly  describe  as  an  apparition.  That  is  to 
say,  they  saw  a  more  or  less  shadowy  figure,  which 
they  at  once  identified,  and  which  then  gradually 
faded  away.  It  was  an  apparition  in  the  true 
sense  of  the  word.  It  entered  the  room  without 
using  the  door  or  window,  it  was  visibly  mani- 
fested before  them,  and  then  it  vanished.  All 
that  is  quite  true.  But  it  is  also  true  that  the 
ghost,  as  you  call  it,  was  my  ghost."  '  Your 
ghost,  but  -  "I  am  not  dead,  you  are  going 

to  say.    Precisely.    But  surely  you  must  be  well 


THOUGHT  BODY,  OR  THE  DOUBLE  59 

aware  of  the  fact  that  the  ghosts  of  the  living 
are  much  better  authenticated  than  ghosts  of  the 
dead." 

My  hostess  was  the  daughter  of  a  well-known 
London  solicitor,  who,  after  spending  her  early 
youth  in  dancing  and  riding  and  other  diversions 
of  young  ladies  in  society  who  have  the  advantage 
of  a  house  in  Park  Lane,  suddenly  became  pos- 
sessed by  a  strange,  almost  savage,  fascination  for 
the  occult  lore  of  the  ancient  East.  Abandoning 
the  frivolities  of  Mayfair,  she  went  to  Girton, 
where  she  plunged  into  the  study  of  Sanscrit. 
After  leaving  Girton,  she  applied  herself  to  the 
study  of  the  occult  side  of  Theosophy.  Then  she 
married  a  black  magician  in  the  platonic  fashion 
common  to  Occultists,  early  Christians,  and 
Russian  Nihilists,  and  since  then  she  has  prose- 
cuted her  studies  into  the  invisible  world  with 
ever-increasing  .interest. 

The  Thought  Body. 

"  I  see  you  are  incredulous,"  she  replied  ;  "  but, 
if  you  like,  I  will  some  time  afford  you  an  oppor- 
tunity of  proving  that  I  am  simply  speaking  the 
truth.  Tell  me,  will  you  speak  to  me  if  I  appear 
to  you  in  my  thought  body  ?  '  "  Certainly,"  I 
replied,  "  unless  I  am  struck  dumb.  Nothing 
would  please  me  better.  But,  of  course,  I  have 
never  seen  a  ghost,  and  no  one  can  say  how  any 
utterly  unaccustomed  experience  may  affect  him." 
'  Unfortunately,"  she  replied,  "  that  is  too  often 
the  case.  All  those  to  whom  I  have  hitherto 
appeared  have  been  so  scared  they  could  not 


60  RSAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

speak/'  "  But,  my  dear  friend,  do  you  actually 
mean  to  say  that  you  have  the  faculty  of— 
"  Going  about  in  my  Thought  Body  ?  Most 
certainly.  It  is  not  a  very  uncommon  faculty, 
but  it  is  one  which  needs  cultivation  and  develop- 
ment." '  But  what  is  a  Thought  Body  ?  '  My 
hostess  smiled  :  "  It  is  difficult  to  explain  truths 
on  the  plane  of  thought  to  those  who  are  immersed 
body  and  soul  in  matter.  I  can  only  tell  you  that 
every  person  has,  in  addition  to  this  natural  body 
of  flesh,  bones,  and  blood,  a  Thought  Body,  the 
exact  counterpart  in  every  respect  of  this  material 
frame.  It  is  contained  within  the  material  body, 
as  air  is  contained  in  the  lungs  and  in  the  blood. 
It  is  of  finer  matter  than  the  gross  fabric  of  our 
outward  body.  It  is  capable  of  motion  with  the 
rapidity  of  thought.  The  laws  of  space  and  time 
do  not  exist  for  the  mind,  and  the  Thought 
Envelope  of  which  we  are  speaking  moves  with 
the  swiftness  of  the  mind/' 

"  Then  when  your  thought  body  appears  ?  ' 

"  My  mind  goes  with  it.  I  see,  I  hear,  and  my 
consciousness  is  with  my  Thought  Envelope.  But 
I  want  to  have  a  proper  interview  while  on  my 
thought  journeys.  That  is  why  I  ask  you  if  you 
would  try  to  speak  to  me  if  I  appear/' 

"  But/'  I  objected,  "  do  you  really  mean  that 
you  hope  to  appear  before  me,  in  my  office,  as 
immaterial  as  gas,  as  visible  as  light,  and  yet  to 
speak,  to  touch  ?  ' 

"  That  is  just  what  I  mean,"  she  replied, 
laughing,  "  that  and  nothing  less.  I  was  in  your 
office  the  other  morning  at  six  o'clock,  but  no  one 


THE  THOUGHT  BODY,  OR  THE  DOUBLE  61 

was  there.  I  have  not  got  this  curious  power  as 
yet  under  complete  control.  But  when  once  we 
are  able  to  direct  it  at  will,  imagine  what  possi- 
bilities it  unfolds  !  " 

"  But/'  said  I,"  if  you  can  be  seen  and  touched, 
you  ought  to  be  photographed  !  ' 

"  I  wish  to  be  photographed,  but  no  one  can 
say  as  yet  whether  such  thought  bodies  can  be 
photographed.  When  next  I  make  the  experi- 
ment I  want  you  to  try.  It  would  be  very  useful." 

Useful  indeed  !  It  does  not  require  very  vivid 
imagination  to  see  that  if  you  can  come  and  go  to 
the  uttermost  parts  of  the  world  in  your  thought 
shape,  such  Thought  Bodies  will  be  indispensable 
henceforth  on  every  enterprising  newspaper.  It 
would  be  a  great  saving  on  telegraphy.  When 
my  ideal  paper  comes  along,  I  mentally  vowed 
I  would  have  my  hostess  as  first  member  of  my 
staff.  But  of  course  it  had  got  to  be  proved,  and 
that  not  only  once  but  a  dozen  times,  before  any 
reliance  could  be  placed  on  it. 

"  I  often  come  down  here,"  said  my  hostess 
cheerfully,  "  after  breakfast.  I  just  lie  down  in 
my  bedroom  in  town,  and  in  a  moment  I  find 
myself  here  at  Hindhead.  Sometimes  I  am  seen, 
sometimes  I  am  not.  But  I  am  here  ;  seen  or 
unseen,  I  see.  It  is  a  curious  gift,  and  one  which 
I  am  studying  hard  to  develop  and  to  control." 

"  And  what  about  clothes  ?  "  I  asked.  "Oh," 
replied  my  hostess  airily,  "  I  go  in  whatever 
clothes  I  like.  There  are  astral  counterparts  to 
all  our  garments.  It  by  no  means  follows  that 
I  appear  in  the  same  dress  as  that  which  is  worn 


62  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

by  my  material  body.  I  remember,  when  I 
appeared  to  your  friend,  I  wore  the  astral  counter- 
part of  a  white  silk  shawl,  which  was  at  the  time 
folded  away  in  the  wardrobe." 

At  this  point,  however,  in  order  to  anticipate 
the  inevitable  observation  that  my  hostess  was 
insane,  I  think  I  had  better  introduce  the  declara- 
tions of  my  two  friends,  who  are  quite  clear  and 
explicit  as  to  their  recollection  of  what  they  saw. 

My  witnesses  are  mother  and  daughter.  The 
daughter  I  have  seen  and  interviewed  ;  the  mother 
I  could  not  see,  but  took  a  statement  down  from 
her  husband,  who  subsequently  submitted  it  in 
proof  to  her  for  correction.  I  print  the  daughter's 
statement  first. 

"  About  eighteen  months  ago  (in  May,  1890)  I 

was  staying  at  the  house  of  my  friend  in  M 

Mansions.  Mrs.  M.  had  gone  to  her  country 
house  at  Hindhead  for  a  fortnight  and  was  not 
expected  back  for  a  week.  I  was  sitting  in  the 
kitchen  reading  Edna  Ly  all's  '  Donovan/  About 
half-past  nine  o'clock  I  distinctly  heard  Mrs.  M. 
walk  up  and  down  the  passage  which  ran  from  the 
front  door  past  the  open  door  of  the  room  in  which 
I  was  sitting.  I  was  not  thinking  of  Mrs.  M.  and 
did  not  at  the  time  realize  that  she  was  not  in  the 
flat,  when  suddenly  I  heard  her  voice  and  saw  her 
standing  at  the  open  door.  I  saw  her  quite  dis- 
tinctly, and  saw  that  she  was  dressed  in  the  dress 
in  which  I  had  usually  seen  her  in  an  evening, 
without  bonnet  or  hat,  her  hair  being  plaited  low 
down  close  to  the  back  of  her  head.  The  dress, 
I  said,  was  the  same,  but  there  were  two  differ- 


THK  THOUGHT  BODY,  OR  THE  DOUBI.K  63 

ences  which  I  noticed  at  once.  In  her  usual  dress, 
the  silk  front  was  grey  ;  this  time  the  grey  colour 
had  given  place  to  a  curious  amber,  and  over  her 
shoulders  she  wore  a  shawl  of  white  Indian  silk. 
I  noticed  it  particularly,  because  the  roses  em- 
broidered on  it  at  its  ends  did  not  correspond  with 
each  other.  All  this  I  saw  a£  I  looked  up  and  heard 

her  say,  '  T ,  give  me  that  book/    I  answered, 

half  mechanically,  '  Yes,  Mrs.  M./  but  felt  some- 
what startled.  I  had  hardly  spoken  when  Mrs.  M. 
turned,  opened  the  door  leading  into  the  main 
building,  and  went  out.  I  instantly  got  up  and 
followed  her  to  the  door.  It  was  closed.  I  opened 
it  and  looked  out,  but  could  see  nobody.  It  was 
not  until  then  that  I  fully  realised  that  there  was 
something  uncanny  in  what  I  had  seen.  I  was 
very  frightened,  and  after  having  satisfied  myself 
that  Mrs.  M.  was  not  in  the  flat,  I  fastened  the 
door,  put  out  the  lights,  and  went  to  bed,  burying 
my  head  under  the  bedclothes. 

"  The  post  next  day  brought  a  letter  from  Mrs. 
M.  saying  that  she  was  coming  by  eleven  o'clock. 
I  was  too  frightened  to  stay  in  the  house,  and  I 
went  to  my  father  and  told  him  what  I  had  seen. 
He  told  me  to  go  back  and  hear  what  Mrs.  M.  had 
to  say  about  the  matter.  When  Mrs.  M.  arrived 
I  told  her  what  I  had  seen  on  the  preceding 
evening.  She  laughed,  and  said,  Oh  !  '  I  was 
here  then,  was  I  ?  I  did  not  expect  to  come  here/ 
With  that  exception  I  have  seen  no  apparition 
whatever,  or  had  any  hallucination  of  any  kind, 
neither  have  I  seen  the  apparition  of  Mrs.  M. 
again." 


64  RKAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

After  hearing  this  statement  I  asked  Mrs.  M. 
what  she  meant  by  the  remark  she  had  made  on 
hearing  Miss  C.'s  explanation  of  what  she  had 
witnessed.  My  hostess  replied,  "  That  night  when 
I  passed  into  the  trance  state,  and  lay  down  on 
the  couch  in  the  sitting-room  at  Hindhead,  I  did 
so  with  the  desire  of  visiting  my  husband,  who 
was  in  his  retreat  at  Wimbledon.  That,  I  should 
say,  was  between  nine  and  half-past.  After  I  came 
out  of  the  trance  I  was  conscious  that  I  had  been 
somewhere,  but  I  did  not  know  where.  I  started 
from  Hindhead  for  Wimbledon,  but  landed  at 
M—  -  Mansions,  where,  no  doubt,  I  was  more  at 
home."  '  Then  you  had  no  memory  of  where  you 
had  been  ?  '  "  Not  the  least."  "  And  what 
about  the  shawl  ?  '  "  The  shawl  was  one  that 
Miss  C.  had  never  seen.  I  had  not  worn  it  for  two 
years,  and  the  fact  that  she  saw  it  and  described 
it,  is  conclusive  evidence  against  the  subjective 
character  of  the  vision.  The  originals  of  all  the 
phantom  clothes  were  at  M—  -  Mansions  at  the 
time  Miss  C.  saw  me  wearing  them.  I  was  not 
wearing  the  shawl.  At  the  time  when  she  saw  it 
on  my  Thought  Body  it  was  folded  up  and  put 
away  in  a  wardrobe  in  an  adjoining  room.  She 
had  never  seen  it."  I  asked  Miss  C.  what  was 
the  appearance  of  Mrs.  M.  She  replied,  "  She  just 
looked  as  she  does  always,  only  much  more  beauti- 
ful." How  do  you  account,"  said  I  to  my  hostess, 
"  for  the  change  in  colour  of  the  silk  front  from 
grey  to  amber  ?  '  She  replied,  "  It  was  a  freak." 

I  then  asked  Mr.  C.,  the  father  of  the  last  wit- 
ness, what  had  occurred  in  his  wife's  experience. 


THE  THOUGHT  BODY,  OR  THE  DOUBLE  65 

Here  is  the  statement  which  his  wife  made  to 
him,  and  which  he  says  is  absolutely  reliable. 
"  I  was  staying  at  Hindhead,  in  the  lodge  con- 
nected with  the  house  in  which  you  are  staying. 
I  was  in  some  trouble,  and  Mrs.  M.  had  been 
somewhat  anxious  about  me.  I  had  gone  to  sleep, 
but  was  suddenly  aroused  by  the  consciousness 
that  some  one  was  bending  over  me.  When  I 
opened  my  eyes  I  saw  in  shimmering  outline  a 
figure  which  I  recognised  at  once  as  that  of  Mrs.  M. 
She  was  bending  over  me,  and  her  great  lustrous 
eyes  seemed  to  pierce  my  very  soul.  For  a  time 
I  lay  still,  as  if  paralysed,  being  unable  either  to 
speak  or  to  move,  but  at  last  gaining  courage  with 
time  I  ventured  to  strike  a  match.  As  soon  as  I 
did  so  the  figure  of  Mrs.  M.  disappeared.  Feeling 
reassured  and  persuaded  that  I  had  been  deluded 
by  my  senses,  I  at  last  put  out  the  light  and  com- 
posed myself  to  sleep.  To  my  horror,  no  sooner 
was  the  room  dark  than  I  saw  the  spectral, 
shimmering  form  of  Mrs.  M.  moving  about  the 
room,  and  always  turning  towards  me  those 
wonderful,  piercing  eyes.  I  again  struck  a  match, 
and  again  the  apparition  vanished  from  the  room. 
"  By  this  time  I  was  in  a  mortal  terror,  and  it 
was  some  time  before  I  ventured  to  put  out  the 
light  again,  when  a  third  time  I  saw  the  familiar 
presence  which  had  evidently  never  left  the  room, 
but  simply  been  invisible  in  the  light.  In  the 
dark  it  shone  by  its  own  radiance.  I  was  taken 
seriously  ill  with  a  violent  palpitation  of  the  heart, 
and  kept  my  light  burning.  I  felt  so  utterly  upset 
that  I  could  not  remain  any  longer  in  the  place 


66  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

and  insisted  next  morning  on  going  home.  I  did 
not  touch  the  phantom,  I  simply  saw  it — saw  it 
three  times,  and  its  haunting  persistency  rendered 
it  quite  impossible  for  me  to  mistake  it  for  any 
mere  nightmare." 

Neither  Mrs.  nor  Miss  C.  have  had  any  other 
hallucinations,  and  Mrs.  C.  is  strongly  sceptical. 
>She  does  not  deny  the  accuracy  of  the  above 
statement,  but  scouts  the  theory  of  a  Thought 
Body,  or  of  any  supernatural  or  occult  explanation. 
On  hearing  Mrs.  C/s  evidence  I  asked  my  hostess 
whether  she  was  conscious  of  haunting  her  guest 
in  this  way.  "  I  knew  nothing  about  it/'  she 
replied  ;  "all  that  I  know  was  that  I  had  been 
much  troubled  about  her  and  was  anxious  to  help 
her.  I  went  into  a  very  heavy,  deep  sleep  ;  but 
until  next  morning,  when  I  heard  of  it  from  Mrs.  C. 
I  had  no  idea  that  my  double  had  left  my  room." 
I  said,  "  This  power  is  rather  gruesome,  for  you 
might  take  to  haunting  me."  "  I  do  not  think  so, 
unless  there  was  something  to  be  gained  which 
could  not  be  otherwise  secured,  some  benefit  to  be 
conferred  upon  you."  "  That  is  to  say,  if  I  were 
in  trouble  or  dangerously  ill,  and  you  were  anxious 
about  me,  your  double  might  come  and  attend 
my  sick-bed."  "  That  is  quite  possible,"  she  said 
imperturbably.  "  Well,"  said  I,  "  when  are  you 
coming  to  be  photographed  ?  '  "  Not  for  many 
months  yet,"  she  replied,  with  a  laugh.  "  For 
the  Thought  Body  to  leave  its  corporeal  tenement 
it  needs  a  considerable  concentration  of  thought, 
and  an  absence  of  all  disturbing  conditions  or 
absorbing  preoccupations  at  the  time.  I  see  no 

\ 


THE  THOUGHT  BODY,  OR  THE  DOUBLE     67 

reason  why  I  should  not  be  photographed  when 
the  circumstances  are  propitious.  I  shall  be  very 
glad  to  furnish  you  with  that  evidence  of  the 
reality  of  the  Thought  Body,  but  such  things 
cannot  be  fixed  up  to  order." 

This,  indeed,  was  a  ghost  to  some  purpose — a 
ghost  free  from  all  the  weird  associations  of  death 
and  the  grave — a  healthy,  utilisable  ghost,  and  a 
ghost,  above  all,  which  wanted  to  be  photo- 
graphed. It  seemed  too  good  to  be  true.  Yet 
how  strange  it  was  !  Here  we  have  just  been 
discussing  whether  or  not  we  have  each  of  us  two 
souls,  and,  behold  !  my  good  hostess  tells  me  quite 
calmly  that  it  is  beyond  all  doubt  that  we  have 
two  bodies. 

Three  Other  Aerial  Wanderers. 

A  short  time  after  hearing  from  my  hostess 
this  incredible  account  of  her  aerial  journeyings, 
I  received  first  hand  from  three  other  ladies 
statements  that  they  had  also  enjoyed  this 
faculty  of  bodily  duplication.  All  four  ladies 
are  between  twenty  and  forty  years  of  age. 
Three  of  them  are  married.  The  first  says  she 
has  almost  complete  control  over  her  movements, 
but  for  the  most  part  her  phantasmal  envelope 
is  invisible  to  those  whom  she  visits. 

This,  it  may  be  said,  is  mere  conscious  clair- 
voyance, in  which  the  faculty  of  sight  was  accom- 
panied by  the  consciousness  of  bodily  presence, 
although  it  is  invisible  to  other  eyes.  It  is, 
besides,  purely  subjective  and  therefore  beside 
the  mark.  Still,  it  is  interesting  as  embodying 


68  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

the  impressions  of  a  mind,  presumably  sane,  as 
to  the  experiences  through  which  it  has  consciously 
passed.  On  the  same  ground  I  may  refer  to  the 
experience  of  Miss  X.,  the  second  lady  referred 
to,  who,  when  lying,  as  it  was  believed,  at  the 
point  of  death,  declares  that  she  was  quite  con- 
scious of  coming  out  of  her  body  and  looking  at 
it  as  it  lay  in  the  bed.  In  all  the  cases  I  have  yet 
mentioned  the  departure  of  the  phantasmal  body 
is  accompanied  by  a  state  of  trance  on  the  part 
of  the  material  body.  There  is  not  dual  conscious- 
ness, but  only  a  dual  body,  the  consciousness  being 
confined  to  the  immaterial  body. 

It  is  otherwise  with  the  experience  of  the  fourth 
wanderer  in  my  text.  Mrs.  Wedgwrood,  the 
daughter-in-law  of  Mr.  Hensleigh  Wedgwood,  the 
well-known  philologist,  who  was  Charles  Darwin's 
cousin,  declares  that  she  had  once  a  very  extra- 
ordinary experience.  She  was  lying  on  a  couch 
in  an  upper  room  one  wintry  morning  at  Shorn- 
clirTe,  when  she  felt  her  Thought  Body  leave  her 
and,  passing  through  the  window,  alight  on  the 
snowy  ground.  She  was  distinctly  conscious  both 
in  her  material  body  and  in  its  immaterial  counter- 
part. She  lay  on  the  couch  watching  the  move- 
ments of  the  second  self,  which  at  the  same  moment 
felt  the  snow  cold  under  its  feet.  The  second  self 
met  a  labourer  and  spoke  to  him.  He  replied  as 
if  somewhat  scared.  The  second  self  walked  down 
the  road  and  entered  an  officer's  hut,  which  was 
standing  empty.  She  noted  the  number  of  guns. 
There  were  a  score  or  more  of  all  kinds  in  all 
manner  of  places ;  remarked  upon  the  quaint 


THE  THOUGHT  BODY,  OR  THE  DOUBLE  69 

looking-glass ;  took  a  mental  inventory  of  the 
furniture  ;  and  then,  coming  out  as  she  went  in, 
she  regained  her  material  body,  which  all  the 
while  lay  perfectly  conscious  on  the  couch.  Then, 
when  the  two  selves  were  reunited,  she  went  down 
to  breakfast,  and  described  where  she  had  been. 
"  Bless  me,"  said  an  officer,  who  was  one  of  the 

party,  "  if  you  have  not  been  in  Major 's  hut. 

You  have  described  it  exactly,  especially  the  guns, 
which  he  has  a  perfect  mania  for  collecting/' 

Here  the  immaterial  body  was  not  only  visible 
but  audible,  and  that  not  merely  to  the  casual 
passer-by,  but  also  to  the  material  body  which  had 
for  the  moment  parted  with  one  of  its  vital  con- 
stituents without  losing  consciousness. 

It  must,  of  course,  be  admitted  that,  with  the 
exception  of  the  statement  by  my  two  friends  as 
to  the  apparition  of  Mrs.  M/s  immaterial  body, 
none  of  the  other  statements  can  pretend  to  the 
slightest  evidential  value.  They  may  be  worth  as 
much  as  the  confessions  of  the  witches  who  swore 
they  were  dancing  with  Satan  while  their  husbands 
held  their  material  bodies  clasped  in  their  arms ; 
but  any  explanation  of  subjective  hallucination  or 
of  downright  lying  would  be  preferred  by  the 
majority  of  people  to  the  acceptance  of  the  simple 
accuracy  of  these  statements.  The  phenomenon 
of  the  aerial  flight  is,  however,  not  unfamiliar  to 
those  who  are  interested  in  this  subject. 

Mrs.  Besant's  Theory. 

I  asked  Mrs.  Besant  whether  she  thought  my 
hostess  was  romancing,  and  whether  my  friend  had 


70  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

not  been  the  victim  of  some  illusion.  "  Oh,  no/' 
said  Mrs.  Besant  cheerfully.  "  There  is  nothing 
improbable  about  it.  Very  possibly  she  has  this 
faculty.  It  is  not  so  uncommon  as  you  think. 
But  its  exercise  is  rather  dangerous,  and  I  hope 
she  is  well  instructed/'  "  How  ?  "  I  asked. 
"  Oh/'  Mrs.  Besant  replied,  "  it  is  all  right  if  she 
knows  what  she  is  about,  but  it  is  just  as  dangerous 
to  go  waltzing  about  on  the  astral  plane  as  it  is  for 
a  girl  to  go  skylarking  down  a  dark  slum  when 
roughs  are  about.  Elementals,  with  the  desire 
to  live,  greedily  appropriating  the  vitality  and  the 
passions  of  men,  are  not  the  pleasantest  com- 
panions. Nor  can  other  astrals  of  the  dead,  who 
have  met  with  sudden  or  violent  ends,  and  whose 
passions  are  unslaked,  be  regarded  as  desirable 
acquaintances.  If  she  knows  what  she  is  about, 
well  and  good.  But  otherwise  she  is  like  a  child 
playing  with  dynamite/' 

"  But  what  is  an  astral  body  ?  " 

Mrs.  Besant  replied,  "  There  are  several  astrals, 
each  with  its  own  characteristics.  The  lowest 
astral  body  taken  in  itself  is  without  conscience, 
will,  or  intelligence.  It  exists  as  a  mere  shadowy 
phantasm  only  as  long  as  the  material  body  lasts/' 
"  Then  the  mummies  in  the  Museum  ?  '  "  No 
doubt  a  clairvoyant  could  see  their  astrals  keeping 
their  silent  watch  by  the  dead.  As  the  body 
decays  so  the  astral  fades  away."  "  But  that 
implies  the  possibility  of  a  decaying  ghost  ?  ' 
"  Certainly.  An  old  friend  of  mine,  a  lady  who 
bears  a  well-known  name,  was  once  haunted  for 
months  by  an  astral.  She  was  a  strong-minded 


THE  THOUGHT  BODY,  OR  THE  DOUBLE  71 

girl,  and  she  didn't  worry.  But  it  was  rather 
ghastly  when  the  astral  began  to  decay.  As  the 
corpse  decomposed  the  astral  shrank,  until  at  last, 
to  her  great  relief,  it  entirely  disappeared." 

Mrs.  Besant  mentioned  the  name  of  the  lady, 
who  is  well  known  to  many  of  my  readers,  and  one 
of  the  last  to  be  suspected  of  such  haunting. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  EVIDENCE  OF  THE  PSYCHICAL   RESEARCH 

SOCIETY. 

IN  that  great  text-book  on  the  subject,  "  The 
Phantasms  of  the  Irving,"  by  Messrs.  Gurney, 
Myers,  and  Podmore,  the  phenomenon  of  the 
Thought  Body  is  shown  to  be  comparatively 
frequent,  and  the  Psychical  Research  Society 
have  about  a  hundred  recorded  instances.  I 
will  only  quote  here  two  or  three  of  the  more 
remarkable  cases  mentioned  in  these  imposing 
volumes. 

The  best  case  of  the  projection  of  the  Thought 
Body  at  will  is  that  described,  under  the  initials 
of  "  S.  H.  B.,"  in  the  first  volume  of  the  "  Phan- 
tasms/' pp.  104-109.  Mr.  B.  is  a  member  of  the 
Stock  Exchange,  who  is  well  known  to  many 
intimate  friends  of  mine  as  a  man  of  high  char- 
acter. The  narrative,  which  is  verified  by  the 
Psychical  Research  Society,  places  beyond  doubt 
the  existence  of  powers  in  certain  individuals  which 
open  up  an  almost  illimitable  field  of  mystery  and 
speculation.  Mr.  B/s  story,  in  brief,  is  this  :— 

"  One  Sunday  night  in  November,  1881,  I  was 
in  Kildare  Gardens,  when  I  willed  very  strongly 
that  I  would  visit  in  spirit  two  lady  friends,  the 
Misses  V.,  who  were  living  three  miles  off  in 
Hogarth  Road.  I  willed  that  I  should  do  this  at 
one  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  having  willed  it  I 


THE  THOUGHT  BODY,  OR  THE  DOUBLE  73 

went  to  sleep.  Next  Thursday,  when  I  first  met 
my  friends,  the  elder  lady  told  me  she  woke  up 
and  saw  my  apparition  advancing  to  her  bed- 
side. She  screamed  and  woke  her  sister,  who  also 
saw  me."  (A  signed  statement  by  both  sisters 
accompanies  this  narrative.  They  fix  the  time  at 
one  o'clock,  and  say  that  Mr.  B.  wore  evening 
dress.) 

"  On  December  1st,  1882,  I  was  at  Southall. 
At  half-past  nine  I  sat  down  to  endeavour  to  fix 
my  mind  so  strongly  upon  the  interior  of  a  house 
at  Kew,  where  Miss  V.  and  her  sister  lived,  that  I 
seemed  to  be  actually  in  the  house.  I  was  con- 
scious, but  I  was  in  a  kind  of  mesmeric  sleep. 
When  I  went  to  bed  that  night  I  willed  to  be  in  the 
front  bedroom  of  that  house  at  Kew  at  twelve, 
and  make  my  presence  felt  by  the  inmates.  Next 
day  I  went  to  Kew.  Miss  V.'s  married  sister  told 
me,  without  any  prompting  from  me,  that  she  had 
seen  me  in  the  passage  going  from  one  room  to 
another  at  half-past  nine  o'clock,  and  that  at 
twelve,  when  she  was  wide  awake,  she  saw  me 
come  into  the  front  bedroom  where  she  slept  and 
take  her  hair,  which  is  very  long,  into  my  hand. 
She  said  I  then  took  her  hand  and  gazed  into  the 
palm  intently.  She  said,  '  You  need  not  look  at 
the  lines,  for  I  never  had  any  trouble.'  She  then 
woke  her  sister.  When  Mrs.  I/,  told  me  this  I 
took  out  the  entry  I  had  made  the  previous  night 
and  read  it  to  her.  Mrs.  Iy.  is  quite  sure  she  was 
not  dreaming.  She  had  only  seen  me  once,  before, 
two  years  previously,  at  a  fancy  ball. 

"  On  March  22nd,  1884,  I  wrote  to  Mr.  Gurney, 


74  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

of  the  Psychical  Research  Society,  telling  him  I 
was  going  to  make  my  presence  felt  by  Miss  V., 
at  44,  Norland  Square,  at  mid-night.  Ten  days 
afterwards  I  saw  Miss  V.,  when  she  voluntarily 
told  me  that  on  Saturday  at  midnight  she  dis- 
tinctly saw  me,  when  she  was  quite  wide  awake. 
I  came  towards  her  and  stroked  her  hair.  She 
adds  in  her  written  statement,  '  The  appearance 
in  my  room  was  most  vivid  and  quite  unmis- 
takable/ I  was  then  at  Baling. " 

Here  there  is  the  thrice-repeated  projection  at 
will  of  the  Thought  Body  through  space  so  as 
to  make  it  both  visible  to,  and  tangible  by,  friends. 
But  the  Conscious  Personality  which  willed  the 
visit  has  not  yet  unlocked  the  memory  of  his  un- 
scious  partner,  and  Mr.  B.,  although  able  to  go 
and  see  and  touch,  could  bring  back  no  memory  cf 
his  aerial  flight.  All  that  he  knew  was  that  he 
willed  and  then  he  slept.  The  fact  that  he  ap- 
peared is  attested  not  by  his  consciousness,  but 
by  the  evidence  of  those  who  saw  him. 

A  Visitor  from  Burmah. 

Here  is  a  report  of  the  apparition  of  a  Thought 
Body,  the  material  original  of  which  was  at  the 
time  in  Burmah.  The  case  is  important,  because 
the  Thought  Body  was  not  recognised  at  the  time, 
showing  that  it  could  not  have  been  a  subjective 
revival  of  the  memory  of  a  face.  It  is  sent  me  by  a 
gentleman  in  South  Kensington,  who  wishes  to  be 
mentioned  only  by  his  initials,  R.S.S. 

"  Towards  the  close  of  1888  my  son,  who  had 
obtained  an  appointment  in  the  Indian  Civil 
Service,  left  England  for  Burmah, 


THE  THOUGHT  BODY,  OR  THE:  DOUBI/E    75 

"  A  few  days  after  his  arrival  in  Rangoon  he 
was  sent  up  the  country  to  join  the  District  Com- 
missioner of  a  district  still  at  that  period  much 
harassed  by  Dacoits. 

"  After  this  two  mails  passed  by  without  news 
of  him,  and  as,  up  to  this  period,  his  letters  had 
reached  us  with  unfailing  regularity,  we  had  a 
natural  feeling  of  anxiety  for  his  safety.  As  the 
day  for  the  arrival  of  the  third  mail  drew  near  I 
became  quite  unreasonably  apprehensive  of  bad 
news,  and  in  this  state  of  mind  I  retired  one  evening 
to  bed,  and  lay  awake  till  long  past  the  middle  of 
the  night,  when  suddenly,  close  to  my  bedside, 
appeared  very  distinctly  the  figure  of  a  young 
man.  The  face  had  a  worn  and  rather  sad  ex- 
pression ;  but  in  the  few  seconds  during  which  it 
was  visible  the  impression  was  borne  in  upon  me 
that  the  vision  was  intended  to  be  reassuring. 

"  I  cannot  explain  why  I  did  not  at  once  as- 
sociate this  form  with  my  son,  but  it  was  so  unlike 
the  hale,  fresh-looking  youth  we  had  parted  from 
only  four  or  five  months  previously  that  I  sup- 
posed it  must  be  his  chief,  whom  I  knew  to  be  his 
senior  by  some  five  years  only. 

u  I  retailed  this  incident  to  my  son  by  the  next 
mail,  and  was  perplexed  when  I  got  his  reply  to 
hear  that  his  chief  was  a  man  with  a  beard  and 
moustache,  whereas  the  apparition  was  devoid  of 
either.  A  little  later  came  a  portrait  of  himself 
recently  taken.  It  was  the  subject  of  my  vision, 
of  which  the  traits  had  remained,  and  still  remain, 
in  every  detail,  perfectly  distinct  in  my  recol- 
lection." 


76  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

Thought  Visits  Seen  and  Remembered. 

Here  is  an  account  of  a  visit  paid  at  will,  which 
is  reported  at  first  hand  in  the  "  Proceedings  of 
the  Psychical  Research  Society/'  The  narrator, 
Mr.  John  Moule,  tells  how  he  determined  to  make 
an  experiment  of  the  kind  now  under  discussion  :— 

"  I  chose  for  this  purpose  a  young  lady,  a  Miss 
Drasey,  and  stated  that  some  day  I  intended  to 
visit  hei,  wherever  the  place  might  be,  although 
the  place  might  be  unknown  to  me  ;  and  told  her 
if  anything  particular  should  occur  to  note  the 
time,  and  when  she  called  at  my  house  again  to 
state  if  anything  had  occurred.  One  day,  about 
two  months  after  (I  not  having  seen  her  in  the 
interval) ,  I  was  by  myself  in  my  chemical  factory, 
Redman  Row,  Mile  End,  Condon,  all  alone, 
and  I  determined  to  try  the  experiment,  the  lady 
being  in  Dalston,  about  three  miles  off.  I  stood, 
raised  my  hands,  and  willed  to  act  on  the  lady. 
I  soon  felt  that  I  had  expended  energy.  I  im- 
mediately sat  down  in  a  chair  and  went  to  sleep. 
I  then  saw  in  a  dream  my  friend  coming  down  the 
kitchen  stairs  where  I  dreamt  I  was.  She  saw  me, 
and  exclaimed  suddenly,  '  Oh  !  Mr.  Moule/  and 
fainted  away.  This  I  dreamt  and  then  awoke. 
I  thought  very  little  about  it,  supposing  I  had  had 
an  ordinary  dream  ;  but  about  three  weeks  after 
she  came  to  my  house  and  related  to  my  wife  the 
singular  occurrence  of  her  seeing  me  sitting  in  the 
kitchen  where  she  then  was,  and  she  fainted  away 
and  nearly  dropped  some  dishes  she  had  in  her 
hands.  All  this  I  saw  exactly  in  my  dream,  so  that 
I  described  the  kitchen  furniture  and  where  I  sat 


THE  THOUGHT  BODY,  OR  THE  DOUBLE  77 

as  perfectly  as  if  I  had  been  there,  though  I  had 
never  been  in  the  house.  I  gave  many  details, 
and  she  said, '  It  is  just  as  if  you  had  been  there/  " 
(Vol.  III.  pp.  420,  421.) 

Mr.  W.  A.  S.,  to  quote  another  case,  in  April, 
1871,  at  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  was  sitting 
in  a  house  in  Pall  Mall.  He  saw  a  lady  glide  in 
backwards  at  the  door  of  the  room,  as  if  she  had 
been  slid  in  on  a  slide,  each  part  of  her  dress 
keeping  its  proper  place  without  disturbance. 
She  glided  in  until  the  whole  of  her  could  be  seen, 
except  the  tip  of  her  nose,  her  lips,  and  the  tip  of 
her  chin,  which  were  hidden  by  the  edge  of  the 
door.  She  was  an  old  acquaintance  of  his,  whom 
he  had  not  seen  for  twenty  or  twenty-five  years. 
He  observed  her  closely  until  his  brother  entered 
the  house,  and  coming  into  the  room  passed 
completely  through  the  phantasm,  which  shortly 
afterwards  faded  away.  Another  person  in  the 
room  could  not  see  it.  Some  years  afterwards  he 
learned  that  she  had  died  the  same  year,  six 
months  afterwards,  from  a  painful  cancer  of  the 
face.  It  was  curious  that  the  phantasm  never 
showed  him  the  front  of  its  face,  which  was  always 
hidden  by  the  door.  (Vol.  II.  p.  517.) 

Sometimes,  however,  the  Thought  Body  is  both 
conscious  and  visible,  although  in  most  cases  when 
visible  it  is  not  conscious,  and  retains  no  memory 
of  what  has  passed.  When  it  remembers  it  is 
usually  not  visible.  In  Mr.  Dale  Owen's  remark- 
able volume,  "  Footfalls  on  the  Boundary  of 
Another  World,"  there  is  a  narrative,  entitled 
"  The  Visionary  Excursion/'  in  which  a  lady, 


78  REAL  GHOST  STORIES 

whom  he  calls  Mrs.  A.,  whose  husband  was  a 
brigadier-general  in  India,  describes  an  aerial 
flight  so  explicitly  that  I  venture  to  reprint  her 
story  here,  as  illustrating  the  possibility  of  being 
visible  and  at  the  same  time  remembering  where 
you  had  been  :— 

In  June  of  the  year  1857,  a  lady,  whom  I  shall 
designate  as  Mrs.  A.,  was  residing  with  her  hus- 
band, a  colonel  in  the  British  army,  and  their 
infant  child,  on  Woolwich  Common,  near  London. 

One  night  in  the  early  part  of  that  month,  sud- 
denly awaking  to  consciousness,  she  felt  herself 
as  if  standing  by  the  bedside  and  looking  down 
upon  her  own  body,  which  lay  there  by  the  side 
of  her  sleeping  husband.  Her  first  impression  was 
that  she  had  died  suddenly,  and  the  idea  was 
confirmed  by  the  pale  and  lifeless  look  of  the  body, 
the  face  void  of  expression,  and  the  whole  appear- 
ance showing  no  sign  of  vitality.  She  gazed  at  it 
with  curiosity  for  some  time,  comparing  its  dead 
look  with  that  of  the  fresh  countenances  of  her 
husband  and  of  her  slumbering  infant  in  the  cradle 
hard  by.  For  a  moment  she  experienced  a  feeling 
of  relief  that  she  had  escaped  the  pangs  of  death  ; 
but  the  next  she  reflected  what  a  grief  her  death 
would  be  to  the  survivors,  and  then  came  the  wish 
that  she  had  broken  the  news  to  them  gradually. 

While  engaged  in  these  thoughts  she  felt  herself 
carried  to  the  wall  of  her  room,  with  a  feeling  that 
it  must  arrest  her  further  progress.  But  no,  she 
seemed  to  pass  through  it  into  the  open  air. 
Outside  the  house  was  a  tree  ;  and  this  also  she 


THE  THOUGHT  BODY,  OR  THE  DOUBLE  79 

seemed  to  traverse  as  if  it  interposed  no  obstacle. 
All  this  occurred  without  any  desire  on  her  part. 

She  crossed  Woolwich  Common,  visited  the 
Arsenal,  returned  to  the  barracks,  and  then  found 
herself  in  the  bed-chamber  of  an  intimate  friend, 
Miss  Iy.  M.,  who  lived  at  Greenwich.  She  began 
to  talk  ;  but  she  remembered  no  more  until  she 
waked  by  her  husband's  side.  Her  first  words 
were,  "  So  I  am  not  dead  after  all.1'  She  told  her 
husband  of  her  excursion,  and  they  agreed  to  say 
nothing  about  it  until  they  heard  from  Miss  Iy.  M. 

When  they  met  that  lady,  two  days  after,  she 
volunteered  the  statement  that  Mrs.  A.  had  ap- 
peared to  her  about  three  o'clock  in  the  morning 
of  the  night  before  last,  robed  in  violet,  and  had  a 
conversation  with  her  ("  Footfalls  on  the  Boun- 
dary of  Another  World,"  p.  256.) 

A  Doctor's  Experience  of  the  Dual  Body. 

Whatever  may  be  thought  of  the  Psychic's 
description  of  her  experiences  in  her  thought 
journey,  they  are  vivid  and  realistic.  Here  is  the 
description  given  by  a  medical  man  in  a  well- 
known  watering-place  on  the  south  coast  of  his 
experience  in  getting  into  his  material  body  after 
an  aerial  excursion  : — 

"  I  was  engaged  to  a  young  lady  whom  I  very 
much  loved.  During  the  early  part  of  this  engage- 
ment I  visited  the  Hall  in  the  village,  not  far  from 
the  Vicarage,  where  the  young  lady  resided.  I 
was  in  the  habit  of  spending  from  Sunday  to 
Monday  at  the  Hall.  On  one  of  these  mornings  of 
my  departure  I  found  myself  standing  between  the 


8o  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

two  closed  windows  in  the  lady's  bedroom.  It  was 
about  five  o'clock  on  a  bright  summer  morning. 
Her  room  looked  eastward,  mine  directly  west, 
and  the  church  stoodbetween  the  two  houses,  which 
were  about  five  hundred  yards  apart.  I  have  no 
impression  whatever  how  I  became  transplanted 
from  the  house.  The  lady  was  in  a  camp  bedstead, 
directly  opposite  to  me,  looking  at  and  reaching 
out  her  arms  towards  me,  when  my  disembodied 
spirit  instantly  disappeared  to  join  the  material 
body  which  it  had  left  in  some  mysterious  way. 
As  I  returned  and  was  fitting  in  to  my  body  on 
my  left  side,  when  half  united  I  could  see  within 
me  the  ununited  spiritual  part  on  glow  like  an 
electric  light,  while  the  other  united  half  was 
hidden  in  total  darkness,  looking  black  as  through 
a  thunder  cloud,  when,  like  the  shutting  of  a 
drawer,  the  whole  body  became  united,  and  I 
awoke  in  great  alarm,  with  a  belief  that  if  any  one 
had  entered  my  room  and  moved  my  body  from 
the  position  in  which  it  lay  on  its  back,  the  return- 
ing spirit  could  not  have  joined  its  material  case, 
and  that  death,  as  it  is  vulgarly  called,  would 
have  been  inevitable/' 

In  the  morning  at  the  breakfast-table  the  young 
lady  said  she  had  a  strange  experience.  She  saw 
M.D.  in  her  bedroom,  looking  at  her  as  she  sat  up 
in  bed,  and  that  he  disappeared  after  a  short  stay  ; 
but  how  he  got  there  she  could  not  say,  as  she  was 
positive  she  had  locked  her  bedroom  door.  So 
one  experience  corroborated  the  other.* 

*  Quoted  from  a  remarkable  work  by  James  Gillingham,  surgical 
mechanist,  Chard,  Somerset.  Mr.  Gillingham  sent  me  the  name  of  the 
doctor,  and  assures  me  that  the  narrative  is  quite  authentic. 


THE  THOUGHT  BODY,  OR  THE  DOUBLE     81 

Speaking  Doubles. 

While  discussing  the  subject,  some  friends  called 
at  Mowbray  House,  and  were,  as  usual,  asked 
to  pay  toll  in  the  shape  of  communicating  any 
experience  they  had  had  of  the  so-called  super- 
natural. One  of  my  visitors  gave  me  the  following 
narrative,  the  details  of  which  are  in  the  possession 
of  the  Psychical  Research  Society  :— 

"  Some  years  ago  my  father  and  another  son  were 
crossing  the  Channel  at  night.  My  mother,  who 
was  living  in  England,  was  roused  up  in  the  middle 
of  the  night  by  the  apparition  of  my  father.  She 
declares  that  she  saw  him  quite  distinctly  standing 
by  her  bedside,  looking  anxious  and  distraught. 
Knowing  that  at  that  moment  he  was  in  mid- 
Channel,  she  augured  that  some  disaster  had  over- 
taken him  or  the  boy.  She  said,  '  Is  there  some 
trouble  ?  '  He  said,  '  There  is  ;  the  boy— 
and  then  he  faded  from  her  sight.  The  curious 
part  of  the  story  is  that  my  father  at  that  very 
time  had  been  thinking  on  board  the  steamer  of 
having  to  tell  his  wife  of  the  loss  of  the  boy.  The 
lad  had  been  missed,  and  for  a  short  time  father 
feared  he  had  fallen  overboard.  Shortly  after- 
wards he  was  discovered  to  be  quite  safe.  But 
during  the  period  of  suspense  father  was  vividly 
conscious  of  the  pain  of  having  to  break  the  news 
to  his  wife.  It  was  subsequently  proved  by  a 
comparison  of  the  hour  that  his  double  had  not 
only  appeared  but  had  spoken  at  the  very  moment 
he  was  thinking  of  how  to  tell  her  the  news  mid- 
way between  France  and  England." 

Another  case  in  which  the  double  appeared  was 

F 


82  RKAiy  GHOST  STORIES 


that  of  Dr.  F.  R.  L,ees,  the  well-known  temperance 
controversialist.  On  communicating  with  the 
Doctor,  the  following  is  his  reply  :— 

"  The  little  story  or  incident  of  which  you  have 
heard  occurred  above  thirty  years  ago,  and  may 
be  related  in  very  few  words.  Whether  it  was 
coincidence,  or  transference  of  vivid  thought,  I 
leave  to  the  judgment  of  others. 

"  I  had  left  Leeds  for  the  Isle  of  Jersey  (though 
my  dear  wife  was  only  just  recovering  from  a 
nervous  fever)  to  fulfil  an  important  engagement. 
On  a  Good  Friday,  myself  and  a  party  of  friends 
in  several  carriages  drove  round  a  large  portion  of 
the  island,  coming  back  to  St.  Heliers  from  Bouley 
Bay,  taking  tea  about  seven  o'clock  at  Captain 
-'s  villa.  The  party  broke  up  about  ten  o'clock, 
and  the  weather  being  fine  and  warm,  I  walked 
to  the  house  of  a  banker  who  entertained  me. 
Naturally,  my  evening  thoughts  reverted  to  my 
home,  and  after  reading  a  few  verses  in  my  Testa- 
ment, I  walked  about  the  room  until  nearly 
eleven,  thinking  of  my  wife,  and  breathing  the 
prayer,  '  God  bless  you/ 

"  I  might  not  have  recalled  all  the  circumstances, 
save  for  the  letter  I  received  by  the  next  post 
from  her,  with  the  query  put  in  :  '  Tell  me  what 
you  were  doing  within  a  few  minutes  of  eleven 
o'clock  on  Friday  evening  ?  I  will  tell  you  in  my 
next  why  I  ask  ;  for  something  happened  to  me/ 
In  the  middle  of  the  week  the  letter  came,  and 
these  words  in  it  :—  '  I  had  just  awoke  from  a 
slight  repose,  when  I  saw  you  in  your  night-dress 
bend  over  me,  and  utter  the  words,  "  God  bless 


THE  THOUGHT  BODY,  OR  THE  DOUBLE     83 

you  !  '  I  seemed  also  to  feel  your  breath  as  you 
kissed  me.  I  felt  no  alarm,  but  comforted,  went 
off  into  a  gentle  sleep,  and  have  been  better  ever 
since/  I  replied  that  this  was  an  exact  representa- 
tion of  my  mind  and  words." 

Here  there  was  apparently  the  instantaneous 
reproduction  in  I^eeds  of  the  image,  and  not  only 
of  the  image  but  of  the  words  spoken  in  Jersey, 
a  hundred  miles  away.  The  theory  that  the 
phantasmal  body  is  occasionally  detachable  from 
the  material  frame  accounts  for  this  in  a  fashion, 
and  that  is  more  than  can  be  said  for  any  other 
hypothesis  that  has  yet  been  stated.  In  neither 
of  these  cases  did  an  early  death  follow  the  appar- 
ition of  the  dual  body. 

An  Unknown  Double  Identified. 

Neither  of  these  stories,  however,  is  so  wonderful 
as  the  following  narrative,  which  is  forwarded  to 
me  by  a  correspondent  in  North  Britain,  who 
received  the  statement  from  a  Colonel  now  serving 
in  India  on  the  Bengal  Staff,  whose  name  is  com- 
municated on  the  understanding  that  it  is  not  to 
be  made  public  :— 

"  In  the  year  1860  I  was  stationed  at  Banda,  in 
Bundelcund,  India.  There  was  a  good  deal  of 
sickness  there  at  the  time,  and  I  was  deputed 
along  with  a  medical  officer  to  proceed  to  the 
nearest  railway  station  at  that  time  Allahabad, 
in  charge  of  a  sick  officer.  I  will  call  myself 
Brown,  the  medical  officer  Jones,  and  the  sick 
officer  Robertson.  We  had  to  travel  very  slowly, 
Robertson  being  carried  by  coolies  in  a  doolie, 


84  RBAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

and  on  this  account  we  had  to  halt  at  a  rest- 
house,  or  pitch  our  camp  every  evening.  One 
evening,  when  three  marches  out  of  Banda,  I  had 
just  come  into  Robertson's  room  about  midnight 
to  relieve  Jones,  for  Robertson  was  so  ill  that  we 
took  it  by  turns  to  watch  him,  when  Jones  took 
me  aside  and  whispered  that  he  was  afraid  our 
friend  was  dying,  that  he  did  not  expect  him  to 
live  through  the  night,  and  though  I  urged  him 
to  go  and  lie  down,  and  that  I  would  call  him  on 
any  change  taking  place,  he  would  not  leave. 
We  both  sat  down  and  watched.  We  had  been 
there  about  an  hour  when  the  sick  man  moved 
and  called  out.  We  both  went  to  his  bedside, 
and  even  my  inexperienced  eyes  saw  that  the  end 
was  near.  We  were  both  standing  on  the  same 
side  of  the  bed,  furthest  away  from  the  door. 

"Whilst  we  were  standing  there  the  door  opened, 
and  an  elderly  lady  entered,  went  straight  up  to  the 
bed,  bent  over  it,  wrung  her  hands  and  wept 
bitterly.  After  a  few  minutes  she  left ;  we  both 
saw  her  face.  We  were  so  astonished  that  neither 
of  us  thought  of  speaking  to  her,  but  as  soon  as 
she  passed  out  of  the  door  I  recovered  myself  and, 
as  quickly  as  possible,  followed  her,  but  could  not 
find  a  trace  of  her.  Robertson  died  that  night. 
We  were  then  about  thirty  miles  from  the  nearest 
cantonment,  and  except  the  rest-house  in  which 
we  were,  and  of  which  we  were  the  only  occupants, 
there  was  not  a  house  near  us.  Next  morning  we 
started  back  to  Banda,  taking  the  corpse  with  us 
for  burial. 

'Three    months    after    this    Jones    went    to 


THE  THOUGHT  BODY,  OR  THE  DOUBLE     85 

England  on  leave,  and  took  with  him  the  sword, 
watch,  and  a  few  other  things  which  had  belonged 
to  the  deceased  to  deliver  to  his  family.  On 
arrival  at  Robertson's  home,  he  was  shown  into 
the  drawing-room.  After  waiting  a  few  minutes, 
a  lady  entered — the  same  who  had  appeared  to 
both  of  us  in  the  jungle  in  India  ;  it  was  Robert- 
son's mother.  She  told  Jones  that  she  had  had  a 
vision  that  her  son  was  dangerously  ill,  and  had 
written  the  date,  etc.,  down,  and  on  comparing 
notes  they  found  that  the  date,  time,  etc.,  agreed 
in  every  respect. 

"  People  to  whom  I  have  told  the  story  laugh 
at  me,  and  tell  me  that  I  must  have  been  asleep 
and  dreamed  it,  but  I  know  I  was  not,  for  I  remem- 
ber perfectly  well  standing  by  the  bedside  when 
the  lady  appeared." 


CHAPTER  III. 
AIMLESS  DOUBLES. 

The  following  curious  experience  is  sent  me  by 
a  commercial  traveller,  who  gives  his  name  and 
address  in  support  of  his  testimony.  Writing  from 
Nottingham,  he  says  :— 

"  On  Tuesday,  the  6th  October,  I  had  a  very 
singular  experience.  I  am  a  commercial  traveller, 
and  represent  a  firm  of  cigar  manufacturers.  I 
left  my  hotel  about  four  o'clock  on  the  above  date 
to  call  upon  a  customer,  a  Mr.  Southam,  Myton 
Gate,  Hull.  I  met  this  gentleman  in  the  street, 
nearly  opposite  his  office  ;  he  shook  hands,  and 
said,  '  How  are  you  ?  I  am  waiting  to  see  a 
friend  ;  I  don't  think  I  shall  want  any  cigars  this 
journey,  but  look  in  before  eight  o'clock/  I 
called  at  7.30,  and  spoke  to  the  clerk  in  the  office. 
He  said,  '  Mr.  Southam  has  made  out  your  cheque 
and  there  is  also  a  small  order.'  I  said,  '  Thanks, 
I  should  have  liked  to  have  seen  him  ;  he  made 
an  appointment  this  afternoon  for  about  eight.' 
The  clerk  said,  '  Where  ?  '  I  said,  '  Just  outside.' 
He  said,  '  That  is  impossible,  as  both  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Southam  have  been  confined  to  their  room 
for  a  fortnight  and  have  never  been  out.'  I  said, 

'  How  strange.  I  said  to  Mr.  S ,  "  You  look 

different  to  your  usual ;  what's  the  matter  with 
you  ?  '  Mr.  S-  -  said,  "  Don't  you  see  I  am  in 
my  deshabille  ?  "  The  clerk  remarked,  '  You  must 


THE  THOUGHT  BODY,  OR  THE  DOUBLE  87 

have  seen  his  second  self,  for  he  has  not  been  up 
to-day/     I  came  away  feeling  very  strange. 

"  J.  P.  BROOKS. 
"  Sydney  Villa,  Ratcliffe  Road,  Bridgeford." 

Mrs.  Eliz.  G.  I/—  — ,  of  H—  -  House,  sends  me 
the  following  report  of  her  experience  of  the 
double.  She  writes  :— 

"  The  only  time  I  ever  saw  an  apparition  was  on 
the  evening  of  the  last  day  of  May,  1860.  The 
impression  then  made  is  most  vivid,  and  the  day 
seldom  recurs  without  my  thinking  of  what  hap- 
pened then. 

"  It  was  a  little  after  seven  o'clock,  the  time  for 
my  husband's  return  from  business.  I  was  passing 
through  the  hall  into  the  dining-room,  where  tea 
was  laid,  when  (the  front  door  being  open)  I  saw 
my  husband  coming  up  the  garden  path,  which 
was  in  a  direct  line  with  the  hall.  It  was  broad 
daylight,  and  nothing  obstructed  my  view  of  him, 
and  he  was  not  more  than  nine  or  ten  yards  from 
me.  Instead  of  going  to  him,  I  turned  back,  and 
said  to  the  servant  in  the  kitchen,  '  Take  tea  in 
immediately,  your  master  is  come.'  I  then  went 
into  the  dining-room,  expecting  him  to  be  there. 
To  my  great  surprise  the  room  was  empty,  and 
there  was  no  one  in  the  garden.  As  my  father 
was  very  ill  in  the  next  house  but  one  to  ours,  I 
concluded  that  Mr.  I, had  suddenly  deter- 
mined to  turn  back  and  enquire  how  he  was  before 
having  tea.  In  half  an  hour  he  came  into  the  room 
to  me,  and  I  asked  how  my  father  was,  when,  to 
my  astonishment,  he  told  me  that  he  had  not 


88  REAI,  GHOST  STORIKS 

called,  but  had  come  home  direct  from  the  town. 
I  said,  '  You  were  in  the  garden  half  an  hour  ago, 
I  saw  you  as  distinctly  as  I  see  you  now  ;  if  you 
were  not  there  then,  you  are  not  here  now,'  and  I 
grasped  his  arm  as  I  spoke  to  convince  myself 
that  it  was  really  he.  I  thought  that  my  husband 
was  teasing  me  by  his  repeated  denials,  and  that  he 
would  at  last  confess  he  was  really  there ;  and  it 
was  only  when  he  assured  me  in  the  most  positive 
and  serious  manner  that  he  was  a  mile  away  at  the 
time  I  saw  him  in  the  garden,  that  I  could  believe 
him.  I  have  never  been  able  to  account  for  the 
appearance.  There  was  no  one  I  could  possibly 

have  mistaken  for  Mr.  I, .     I  was  in  good 

health  at  the  time,  and  had  no  illness  for  long 
afterwards.  My  mother  is  still  living,  and  she  can 
corroborate  my  statement,  and  bear  witness  to  the 
deep  impression  the  occurrence  made  upon  me. 
I  saw  my  husband  as  plainly  as  I  have  ever  seen 
him  since  during  the  many  years  we  have  lived 
together." 

Two  Dundee  Doubles. 

^Mr.  Robert  Kidd,  of  Gray  Street,  Broughty 
Ferry,  who  has  filled  many  offices  in  Dundee, 
having  been  twenty-five  years  a  police  commis- 
sioner and  five  years  a  magistrate  there,  sends  me 
the  following  report  of  two  cases  of  the  double  : — 
'  A  few  years  ago  I  had  a  shop  on  the  High 
Street  of  Dundee — one  door  and  one  window,  a 
cellar  underneath,  the  entrance  to  which  was  at 
one  corner  of  the  shop.  There  was  no  way  of 
getting  in  or  out  of  the  cellar  but  by  that  stair  in 
the  corner.  It  was  lighted  from  the  street  by 


THE  THOUGHT  BODY,  OR  THB  DOUBLE  89 

glass,  but  to  protect  that  there  was  an  iron  grating, 
which  was  fixed  down.  Well,  I  had  an  old  man, 
a  servant,  named  Robert  Chester.  I  sent  him  a 
message  one  forenoon  about  12  o'clock  ;  he  was  in 
no  hurry  returning.  I  remarked  to  my  daughter, 
who  was  book-keeper,  whose  desk  was  just  by 
the  trap-door,  that  he  was  stopping  long.  Just 
as  I  spoke  he  passed  the  window,  came  in  at  the 
door,  carrying  a  large  dish  under  his  arm,  went 
right  past  me,  past  my  daughter,  who  looked  at 
him,  and  went  down  into  the  cellar.  After  a  few 
minutes,  as  I  heard  no  noise,  I  wondered  what  he 
could  be  about,  and  went  down  to  see.  There 
was  no  Robert  there.  I  cannot  tell  what  my 
sensations  were  when  I  realized  this ;  there  was 
no  possibility  of  his  getting  out,  and  we  both  of 
us  saw  and  heard  him  go  down.  Well,  in  about 
twenty  minutes  he  re-passed  the  window,  crossed 
the  floor,  and  went  downstairs,  exactly  as  he  had 
the  first  time.  There  was  no  hallucination  on  our 
part.  My  daughter  is  a  clever,  highly-gifted 
woman  ;  I  am  seventy-eight  years  of  age,  and 
have  seen  a  great  deal  of  the  world,  a  great 
reader,  etc.,  etc.,  and  not  easily  deceived  or  apt 
to  be  led  away  by  fancy,  and  I  can  declare  that 
his  first  appearance  to  us  was  a  reality  as  much 
as  the  second;  We  concluded,  and  so  did  all  his 
relations,  that  it  portended  his  death,  but  he  is 
still  alive,  over  eighty  years  of  age.  I  give  this 
just  as  it  occurred,  without  any  varnish  or  ex- 
aggeration whatever.  The  following  narrative  I 
firmly  believe,  as  I  knew  the  parties  well,  and 
that  every  means  were  used  to  prove  its  truth- 
fulness. 


go  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

"  Mr.  Alexander  Drummond  was  a  painter, 
who  had  a  big  business  and  a  large  staff  of  men. 
His  clerk  was  Walter  Souter,  his  brother-in-law, 
whose  business  it  was  to  be  at  the  shop  (in  North- 
gate,  Dundee)  sharp  at  six  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
to  take  an  account  of  where  the  men  were  going, 
quantity  of  material,  etc.  In  this  he  was  assisted 
by  Miss  Drummond.  One  morning  he  did  not 
turn  up  at  the  hour,  but  at  twenty  past  six  he 
came  in  at  the  door  and  appeared  very  much 
excited  ;  but  instead  of  stepping  to  the  desk, 
where  Mr.  and  Miss  Drummond  were  awaiting 
him,  he  went  right  through  the  front  shop  and 
out  at  a  side  door.  This  in  sight  of  Mr.  and 
Miss  D—  — ,  and  also  in  sight  of  a  whole  squad 
of  workmen.  Well,  exactly  in  another  twenty 
minutes  he  came  in,  also  very  much  excited,  and 
explained  that  it  was  twenty  minutes  past  six 
when  he  awakened,  and  that  he  had  run  all  the  way 
from  his  house  (he  lived  a  mile  from  the  place  of 
business).  He  was  a  very  exemplary,  punctual 
man,  and  when  Mr.  Drummond  asked  him  where 
he  went  to  when  he  came  first,  he  was  dumb- 
founded, and  could  not  comprehend  what  was 
meant.  To  test  his  truthfulness,  Mr.  D—  -  went 
out  to  his  wife  that  afternoon,  when  she  told  him 
the  same  story  ;  that  it  was  twenty  past  six 
o'clock  when  he  awoke,  and  that  he  was  very  much 
excited  about  it,  as  it  was  the  first  time  he  had 
slept  in.  This  story  I  believe  as  firmly  as  in  my 
own  case,  as  it  was  much  talked  about  at  the  time, 
and  I  have  just  told  it  as  it  was  told  to  me  by  all 
the  parties.  Of  course  I  am  a  total  stranger  to 


THE  THOUGHT  BODY,  OR  THK  DOUBLE  91 

you,  and  you  may  require  to  know  something 
about  me  before  believing  my  somewhat  singular 
stories.  I  am  well  known  about  here,  have  filled 
many  offices  in  Dundee,  and  have  been  twenty- 
five  years  a  police  commissioner,  and  five  years  a 
magistrate  in  this  place,  am  very  well  known  to 
the  Right  Honourable  C,  Ritchie,  and  also  to  our 
county  member,  Mr.  Barclay.  If  this  little  story 
throws  any  light  upon  our  wondrous  being  I  shall 
be  glad." 

A  Manchester  Parallel. 

The  following  narrative,  supplied  by  Mr.  R.  P. 
Roberts,  10,  Exchange  Street,  Manchester,  appears 
in  the  "  Proceedings  of  the  Psychical  Research 
Society."  It  is  a  fitting  pendant  to  Mr.  Kidd's 
story  :— 

'  The  shop  stood  at  the  corner  of  Castle  Street 
and  Rating  Row,  Beaumaris,  and  I  lived  in  the 
latter  street.  One  day  I  went  home  to  dinner  at 
the  usual  hour.  When  I  had  partly  finished  I 
looked  at  the  clock.  To  my  astonishment  it 
appeared  that  the  time  by  the  clock  was  12.30. 
I  gave  an  unusual  start.  I  certainly  thought  that 
it  was  most  extraordinary.  I  had  only  half- 
finished  my  dinner,  and  it  was  time  for  me  to  be 
at  the  shop.  I  felt  dubious,  so  in  a  few  seconds 
had  another  look,  when  to  my  agreeable  surprise 
I  found  that  I  had  been  mistaken.  It  was  only 
just  turned  12.15.  I  could  never  explain  how  it 
was  I  made  the  mistake.  The  error  gave  me  such 
a  shock  for  a  few  minutes  as  if  something  had 
happened,  and  I  had  to  make  an  effort  to  shake 
off  the  sensation.  I  finished  my  dinner,  and 


92  RKAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

returned  to  business  at  12.30.  On  entering  the 
shop  I  was  accosted  by  Mrs.  Owen,  my  employer's 
wife,  who  used  to  assist  in  the  business.  She 
asked  me  rather  sternly  where  I  had  been  since 
my  return  from  dinner.  I  replied  that  I  had  come 
straight  from  dinner.  A  long  discussion  followed, 
which  brought  out  the  following  facts.  About  a 
quarter  of  an  hour  previous  to  my  actual  entering 
the  shop  (i.e.  about  12.15),  I  was  seen  by  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Owen  and  a  well-known  customer,  Mrs. 
Jones,  to  walk  into  the  shop,  go  behind  the 
counter,  and  place  my  hat  upon  the  peg.  As  I 
was  going  behind  the  counter,  Mrs.  Owen  re- 
marked, with  the  intention  that  I  should  hear, 
'  that  I  had  arrived  now  that  I  was  not  wanted.' 
This  remark  was  prompted  by  the  fact  that  a  few 
minutes  previous  a  customer  was  in  the  shop  in 
want  of  an  article  which  belonged  to  the  stock 
under  my  charge,  and  which  could  not  be  found 
in  my  absence.  As  soon  as  this  customer  left  I 
was  seen  to  enter  the  shop.  It  was  observed  by 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Owen  and  Mrs.  Jones  that  I  did  not 
appear  to  notice  the  remark  made.  In  fact,  I 
looked  quite  absent-minded  and  vague.  Immedi- 
ately after  putting  my  hat  on  the  peg  I  returned 
to  the  same  spot,  put  my  hat  on  again,  and  walked 
out  of  the  shop,  still  looking  in  a  mysterious 
manner,  which  induced  one  of  the  parties,  I  think 
Mrs.  Owen,  to  say  that  my  behaviour  was  very 
odd,  and  she  wondered  where  I  was  off  to. 

"I,  of  course,  contradicted  these  statements, 
and  endeavoured  to  prove  that  I  could  not  have 
eaten  my  dinner  and  returned  in  a  quarter  of  an 


THE  THOUGHT  BODY,  OR  THE  DOUBLE    93 

hour.  This,  however,  availed  nothing,  and  during 
our  discussion  the  above-mentioned  Mrs.  Jones 
came  into  the  shop  again,  and  was  appealed  to  at 
once  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Owen.  She  corroborated 
every  word  of  their  account,  and  added  that  she 
saw  me  coming  down  Rating  Row  when  within  a 
few  yards  of  the  shop  ;  that  she  was  only  a  step 
or  two  behind  me,  and  entered  the  shop  in  time 
to  hear  Mrs.  Owen's  remarks  about  my  coming  too 
late.  These  three  persons  gave  their  statement 
of  the  affair  quite  independently  of  each  other. 
There  was  no  other  person  near  my  age  in  the 
Owens'  establishment,  and  there  could  be  no 
reasonable  doubt  that  my  form  had  been  seen 
by  them  and  by  Mrs.  Jones.  They  would  not 
believe  my  story  until  my  aunt,  who  had  dined 
with  me,  said  positively  that  I  had  not  left  the 
table  before  my  time  was  up.  You  will,  no  doubt, 
notice  the  coincidence.  At  the  moment  when  I 
felt,  with  a  startling  sensation,  that  I  ought  to  be 
at  the  shop,  and  when  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Owen  were 
extremely  anxious  that  I  should  be  there,  I 
appeared  to  them  looking,  as  they  said,  '  as  if 
in  a  dream  or  in  a  state  of  somnambulism/  ' 
("  Proceedings  of  the  Psychical  Research  Society/' 
Vol.  I.  p.  135-6.) 

A   Very  Visible  Double. 

A  correspondent,  writing  from  a  Yorkshire 
village,  sends  me  the  following  account  of  an 
apparition  of  a  Thought  Body  in  circumstances 
when  there  was  nothing  more  serious  than  a 
yearning  desire  on  the  part  of  a  person  whose 


94  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

phantasm  appeared  to  occupy  his  old  bed.  My 
correspondent,  Mr.  J.  G.  -  — ,  says  that  he  took 
it  down  from  the  lips  of  one  of  the  most  truthful 
men  he  ever  knew,  and  a  sensible  person  to  boot. 
This  person  is  still  living,  and  I  am  told  he  has 
confirmed  Mr.  G—  -'s  story,  which  is  as  follows  :— 

"  Sixty  years  ago  I  was  a  farm  servant  at  a 
place  in  Pembrokeshire  (I  can  give  the  name,  but 
don't  wish  it  to  be  published).  I  was  about  fifteen 
years  old.  I,  along  with  three  other  men-servants, 
slept  in  a  granary  in  the  yard.  Our  bedchamber 
was  reached  by  means  of  ten  broad  stone  steps. 
It  was  soon  after  Allhallows  time,  when  all  farm 
servants  change  places  in  that  part  of  the  country. 
A  good  and  faithful  foreman,  who  had  been  years 
on  the  farm,  had  this  time  desired  a  change,  and 
had  engaged  to  service  some  fifteen  miles  off,  a 
change  which  he  afterwards  much  regretted. 

"  One  night  I  woke  up  in  my  bed  some  time 
during  the  small  hours  of  the  morning,  and  obedi- 
ent to  the  call  of  nature,  I  got  up,  opened  the  door, 
and  stood  on  the  upper  step  of  the  stairs.  It  was 
a  beautiful  moonlight  night.  I  surveyed  the  yard 
and  the  fields  about.  To  my  surprise,  but  without 
the  least  apprehension,  I  noticed  a  man  coming 
down  a  field,  jump  over  a  low  wall,  and  walk 
straight  towards  me.  He  stepped  the  three  first 
steps  one  by  one,  then  he  took  two  or  three  steps 
at  a  stride.  I  knew  the  man  well  and  recognised 
him  perfectly.  I  knew  all  the  clothes  he  wore, 
particularly  a  light  waistcoat  which  he  put  on  on 
great  occasions.  As  he  drew  near  me  I  receded  to 
the  doorway,  and  as  he  lifted  up  his  two  hands, 


THE  THOUGHT  BODY,  OR  THE  DOUBLE  95 

as  in  the  act  of  opening  the  door,  which  was  open 
already,  I  fled  in  screaming,  and  passing  my  own 
bed  jumped  in  between  two  older  men  in  the  next 
bed.  And  neither  time  nor  the  sympathy  of  my 
comrades  could  pacify  me  for  hours. 

"  I  told  my  tale,  which,  after  searching  and 
seeing  nobody,  they  disbelieved  and  put  down  to 
my  timidity. 

'  Next  morning,  however,  just  as  we  were 
coming  out  from  breakfast,  in  the  presence  of  all 
of  us  the  discharged  foreman  was  seen  coming 
down  the  same  field,  jumping  the  wall,  walk 
toward  the  sleeping  chamber,  ascend  the  steps, 
lifting  up  his  two  hands  to  open  the  door  in  the 
self-same  manner  in  every  particular  as  I  had 
described,  and  went  straight  to  the  same  bed  as  I 
got  into. 

"  I  asked  him,  '  Were  you  here  last  night, 
John  ?  ' 

'  No,  my  boy/  was  the  answer  ;  '  my  body 
was  not  here,  but  my  mind  was.  I  have  run 
away  from  that  horrid  place,  travelled  most  of 
the  night,  and  every  step  I  took  my  mind  was 
fixed  on  this  old  bed,  where  my  weary  bones 
might  be  at  rest/  ' 

I  can  supply  names  and  all  particulars,  but  do 
not  wish  them  to  be  published. 

Seeing  Your  Own  Thought  Body. 

In  his  "  Footfalls  "  Mr.  Owen  records  a  still 
more  remarkable  case  of  the  duplication  of  the 
body.  A  gentleman  in  Ohio,  in  1833,  had  built 
a  new  house,  seventy  or  eighty  yards  distant  from 


96  RKAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

his  old  residence  on  the  other  side  of  a  small 
ravine.  One  afternoon,  about  five  o'clock,  his 
wife  saw  his  eldest  daughter,  Rhoda,  aged  sixteen, 
holding  the  youngest,  Lucy,  aged  four,  in  her 
arm,  sitting  in  a  rocking-chair,  just  within  the 
kitchen  door  of  the  new  residence.  She  called  the 
attention  of  another  sister  to  what  she  saw,  and 
was  startled  to  hear  that  Rhoda  and  Lucy  were 
upstairs  in  the  old  house.  They  were  at  once  sent 
for,  and  on  coming  downstairs  they  saw,  to  their 
amazement,  their  exact  doubles  sitting  on  the 
doorstep  of  the  new  house.  All  the  family  col- 
lected— twelve  in  all — and  they  all  saw  the  phan- 
tasmal Rhoda  and  Lucy,  the  real  Rhoda  and  Lucy 
standing  beside  them.  The  figures  seated  at  the 
hall  door,  and  the  two  children  now  actually  in 
their  midst,  were  absolutely  identical  in  appear- 
ance, even  to  each  minute  particular  of  dress. 
After  watching  them  for  five  minutes,  the  father 
started  to  cross  the  ravine  and  solve  the  mystery. 
Hardly  had  he  descended  the  ravine  when  the 
phantasmal  Rhoda  rose  from  the  rocking  chair, 
with  the  child  in  her  arms,  and  lay  down  on  the 
threshold.  There  she  remained  a  moment  or  two, 
and  then  apparently  sank  into  the  earth.  When 
the  father  reached  the  house  no  trace  could  be 
found  of  any  human  being.  Both  died  within  a 
year. 

A  correspondent  of  my  own,  a  dressmaker  in 
the  North  of  England,  sends  me  the  following 
circumstantial  account  of  how  she  saw  her  own 
double  without  any  mischief  following  :— 

"  I  have  a  sewing-machine,  with  a  desk  at  one 


THE:  THOUGHT  BODY,  OR  THE  DOUBLE  97 

side  and  carved  legs  supporting  the  desk  part ; 
on  the  opposite  side  the  machine  part  is.  The  lid 
of  the  machine  rests  on  the  desk  part  when  open, 
so  that  it  forms  a  high  back.  I  had  this  machine 
across  the  corner  of  a  room,  so  that  the  desk  part 
formed  a  triangle  with  the  corner  of  the  room.  I 
sat  at  the  machine  with  my  face  towards  the 
corner.  To  my  left  was  the  window,  to  my  right 
the  fire  ;  at  each  side  of  my  chair  the  doors  of 
the  machine  walled  me  in  as  I  sat  working  the 
treadles.  Down  each  side  of  the  machine  are 
imitations  of  drawers.  The  wood  is  a  beautiful 
walnut.  I  was  sewing  a  long  piece  of  material 
which  passed  from  left  to  right.  It  was  dinner- 
time, so  I  looked  down  to  see  how  much  more  I 
had  to  do.  It  was  almost  finished,  but  there,  in 
the  space  near  the  window,  betwreen  the  wall  and 
the  machine,  was  a  full-sized  figure  of  myself 
from  the  waist  upwards.  The  image  was  lower 
than  myself,  but  clear  enough,  with  brown  hair 
and  eyes.  How  earnestly  the  eyes  regarded  me  ; 
how  thoughtfully  !  I  laughed  and  nodded  at  the 
image,  but  still  it  gazed  earnestly  at  me.  At  its 
neck  was  a  bright  red  bow,  coming  unpinned. 
Its  white  linen  collar  was  turned  up  at  the  right- 
hand  corner. 

"  When  I  got  down  to  dinner  I  told  my 
brother  George  I  had  seen  Pepper's  Ghost,  and 
it  was  a  distinct  image  of  myself,  clear  enough, 
and  yet  I  could  see  the  wall  and  the  side  of  the 
machine  through  the  image,  and  George  said, 
'  Had  it  a  red  bow  and  white  collar  on  ?  '  '  Oh, 
yes/  I  said.  '  It  was  just  like  me,  only  nicer, 

G 


98  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

and  when  I  laughed  and  nodded,  it  looked  grave/ 
1  Very  likely/  said  George.  '  It  would  think  you 
very  silly.  And  was  its  bow  coming  unpinned  ?  ' 
'  Yes/  I  replied  ;  '  and  the  right  point  of  its  collar 
was  turned  up/  He  reached  me  a  hand-mirror, 
and  I  saw  that  my  bow  was  coming  unpinned  and 
the  right  point  of  my  collar  was  turned  up.  So 
it  could  not  have  been  a  reflection,  or  it  would  not 
have  been  the  right  point,  but  the  left  of  my  collar 
that  was  turned  up/' 

The  Wraith  as  a  Portent. 

In  the  North  country  it  is  of  popular  belief  that 
to  see  the  ghost  of  a  living  man  portends  his  ad- 
proaching  decease.  The  Rev.  Henry  Kendall,  of 
Darlington,  from  whose  diary  (unpublished)  I  have 
the  liberty  to  quote,  notes  the  'following  illustra- 
tion of  this  belief,  under  date  August  16th,  1870  : — 

"  Mrs.  W.  mentioned  a  curious  incident  that 
happened  in  Darlington  :  how  Mrs.  Percy,  up- 
holsterer, and  known  to  several  of  us,  was  walking 
along  the  street  one  day  when  her  husband  was 
living,  and  she  saw  him  walking  a  little  way  before 
her  ;  then  he  left  the  causeway  and  turned  in  at  a 
public-house.  When  she  spoke  to  him  oi  this, 
he  said  he  had  not  been  near  the  place,  and  she  was 
so  little  satisfied  with  his  statement  that  she  called 
in  at  the  '  public/  and  asked  them  if  her  husband 
had  been  there,  but  they  told  her  '  No/  In  a  very- 
short  period  after  this  happened  he  died/' 

The  phenomenon  of  a  dual  body  haunted  the 
imagination  of  poor  Shelley.  Shortly  before  his 
death  he  believed  he  had  seen  his  wraith  : — 


Tim  THOUGHT  BODY,  OR  THE  DOUBLE  99 

"  On  the  23rd  of  June/'  says  one  of  his  bi- 
ographers, '  he  was  heard  screaming  at  midnight 
in  the  saloon.  The  Williamses  ran  in  and  found 
him  staring  on  vacancy.  He  had  had  a  vision  of  a 
cloaked  figure  which  came  to  his  bedside  and 
beckoned  him  to  follow.  He  did  so,  and  when  they 
had  reached  the  sitting-room,  the  figure  lifted 
the  hood  of  his  cloak  and  disclosed  Shelley's  own 
features,  and  saying,  '  Siete  soddisfatto  ?  '  van- 
ished. This  vision  is  accounted  for  on  the  ground 
that  Shelley  had  been  reading  a  drama  attributed 
to  Calderon,  named  '  El  Embozado  o  El  En- 
capotado,'  in  which  a  mysterious  personage  who 
had  been  haunting  and  thwarting  the  hero  all 
his  life,  and  is  at  last  about  to  give  him  satisfaction 
in  a  duel,  finally  unmasks  and  proves  to  be  the 
hero's  own  wraith.  He  also  asks,  '  Art  thou 
satisfied  ?  '  and  the  haunted  man  dies  of  horror." 

On  the  29th  of  June  some  friends  distinctly 
saw  Shelley  walk  into  a  little  wood  near  I,erici, 
when  in  fact  he  was  in  a  wholly  different  direction. 
This  was  related  by  Byron  to  Mr.  Co  well. 

It  is  difficult  to  frame  any  theory  that  will 
account  for  this  double  apparition,  except,  of 
course,  the  hypothesis  of  downright  lying  on  the 
part  of  the  witnesses.  But  the  hypothesis  of  the 
duplication  of  the  body  in  this  extraordinary  fash- 
ion is  one  which  cannot  be  accepted  until  the 
immaterial  body  is  photographed  under  test 
conditions  at  the  same  time  that  the  material 
body  is  under  safe  custody  in  another  place. 
Of  course,  it  is  well  to  bear  in  mind  that  to  all  those 
who  profess  to  know  anything  of  occult  lore,  and 


ioo  REAiv  GHOST  STORIES 

also  to  those  who  have  the  gift  of  clairvoyance, 
there  is  nothing  new  or  strange  in  the  doctrine  of 
the  immaterial  body.  Many  clairvoyants  declare 
that  they  constantly  see  the  apparitions  of  the 
living  mingling  with  the  apparitions  of  the  dead. 
They  are  easily  distinguishable.  The  ghost  of  a 
living  person  is  said  to  be  opaque,  whereas  the 
ghost  of  one  from  whom  life  has  departed  is 
diaphanous  as  gossamer. 

All  this,  of  course,  only  causes  the  unbeliever 
to  blaspheme.  It  is  to  him  every  whit  as  mon- 
strous as  the  old  stories  of  the  witches  riding  on 
broomsticks.  But  the  question  is  not  to  be  settled 
by  blasphemy  on  one  side  or  credulity  on  the 
other.  There  is  something  behind  these  phan- 
tasmal apparitions  ;  there  is  a  real  substratum 
of  truth,  if  we  could  but  get  at  it.  There  seems 
to  be  some  faculty  latent  in  the  human  mind,  by 
which  it  can  in  some  cases  impress  upon  the  eye 
and  ear  of  a  person  at  almost  any  distance  the 
image  and  the  voice.  We  may  call  it  telepathy  or 
what  we  please.  It  is  a  marvellous  power,  the 
mere  hint  of  which  indefinitely  expands  the  horizon 
of  the  imagination.  The  telephone  is  but  a  mere 
child's  toy  compared  with  the  gift  to  transmit  not 
only  the  sound  of  the  voice  but  the  actual  visible 
image  of  the  speaker  for  hundreds  of  miles  without 
any  conductor  known  to  man. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
THE  HYPNOTIC  KEY. 

HYPNOTISM  is  the  key  which  will  enable  us  to 
unlock  most  of  these  mysteries,  and  so  far  as 
hypnotism  has  spoken  it  does  not  tend  to  encourage 
the  belief  that  the  immaterial  body  has  any  sub- 
stance other  than  the  hallucination  of  the  person 
who  sees  it.  Various  cases  are  reported  by  hyp- 
notist practitioners  which  suggest  that  there  is  an 
almost  illimitable  capacity  of  the  human  mind  to 
see  visions  and* to  hear  voices.  One  very  remark- 
able case  was  that  of  a  girl  who  was  told  at  mid- 
summer by  the  hypnotist,  when  in  the  hypnotic 
state,  that  he  would  come  to  see  her  on  New  Year's 
Day.  When  she  awoke  from  the  trance  she  knew 
nothing  about  the  conversation.  One  hundred 
and  seventy-one  days  passed  without  any  reference 
to  it.  But  on  the  172nd  day,  being  New  Year's 
Day,  she  positively  declared  that  the  doctor  had 
entered  her  room,  greeted  her,  and  then  departed. 
Curiously  enough,  as  showing  the  purely  sub- 
jective character  of  the  vision,  the  doctor  ap- 
peared to  her  in  the  depth  of  winter,  wearing  the 
light  summer  apparel  he  had  on  when 'he  made 
the  appointment  in  July.  In  this  case  there  can  be 
no  question  as  to  the  apparition  being  purely 
subjective.  The  doctor  did  not  make  any  attempt 
to  visit  her  in  his  immaterial  body,  but  she  saw 
him  and  heard  him  as  if  he  were  there. 


GHOST  STORIES 


The  late  Mr.  Gurney  conducted  some  experi- 
ments with  a  hypnotic  subject  which  seem  to  con- 
firm the  opinion  that  the  phantasmal  body  is  a 
merely  subjective  hallucination,  although,  of 
course,  this  would  not  explain  how  information 
had  been  actually  imparted  to  the  phantasmal 
visitant  by  the  person  who  saw,  or  imagined  they 
saw,  his  wraith.  Mr.  Gurney  's  cases  are,  however, 
very  interesting,  if  only  as  indicating  the  absolute 
certainty  which  a  hypnotised  patient  can  be  made 
to  feel  as  to  the  objectivity  of  sights  and  sounds  :— 
"  S.  hypnotised  Zillah,  and  told  her  that  she 
would  see  him  standing  in  the  room  at  three 
o'clock  next  afternoon,  and  that  she  would  hear 
him  call  her  twice  by  name.  She  was  told  that 
he  would  not  stop  many  seconds.  On  waking 
she  had  no  notion  of  the  ideas  impressed  upon 
her. 

"  Next  day,  however,  she  came  upstairs  about 

five    minutes    past   three,    looking    ghastly    and 

startled.     She  said,   '  I  have  seen  a  ghost/     I 

assumed  intense  amazement,  and  she  said  she  was 

in  the  kitchen  cleaning  some  silver,  and  suddenly 

she  heard  her  name  called  sharply  twice  over, 

'  Zillah  !  '  in  Mr.  Smith's  voice.    She  said,  '  And  I 

dropped  the  spoon  I  was  rubbing,  and  turned  and 

saw  Mr.  S.,  without  his  hat,  standing  at  the  foot 

of  the  kitchen  stairs.    I  saw  him  as  plain  as  I  see 

you/  she  said,  and  looked  very  wild  and  vacant. 

"  The  next  experiment  took  place  on  Wednes- 

day evening,  July  13th,  1887,  when  S.,  told  her, 

when  hypnotised,    that   the   next   afternoon,   at 

three  o'clock,   she  would  see  me   (Mr.   Gurney) 


THE  THOUGHT  BODY,  OR  THE  DOUBLE  103 

come  into  the  room  to  her.  She  was  further  told 
that  I  would  keep  my  hat  on  and  say,  '  Good- 
morning/  and  that  I  would  remark,  '  It  is  very 
warm/  and  would  then  turn  round  and  walk  out. 

"  Next  day  this  is  what  Zillah  reported.  She 
said,  '  I  was  in  the  kitchen  washing  up,  and  had 
just  looked  at  the  clock,  and  was  startled  to  see 
how  late  it  was  (five  minutes  to  three)  when  I 
heard  footsteps  coming  down  the  stairs — rather  a 
quick,  light  step — and  I  thought  it  was  Mr.  Sleep  ' 
(the  dentist  whose  rooms  are  in  the  house),  '  but 
as  I  turned  round,  with  a  dish  mop  in  one  hand 
and  a  plate  in  the  other,  I  saw  some  one  with  a  hat 
on  who  had  to  stoop  as  he  came  down  the  last 
step,  and  there  was  Mr.  Gurney.  He  was  dressed 
just  as  I  saw  him  last  night,  black  coat  and  grey 
trousers,  his  hat  on,  and  a  roll  of  paper  like  manu- 
script in  his  hand,  and  he  said,  "  Oh  !  good-after- 
noon;" And  then  he  glanced  all  round  the  kitchen 
and  he  glanced  at  me  with  an  awful  look,  as  if  he 
was  going  to  murder  me,  and  said,  "  Warm  after- 
noon, isn't  it  ?  "  and  then  "  Good-afternoon/'  or 
"  Good-day/'  I  am  not  sure  which,  and  then 
turned  and  went  up  the  stairs  again ;  and  after 
standing  thunderstruck  a  minute,  I  ran  to  the  foot 
of  the  stairs  and  saw  just  like  a  boot  disappearing 
on  the  top  step/  She  said,  '  I  think  I  must  be 
going  crazy.  Why  should  I  always  see  something 
at  three  o'clock  each  day  after!  the  seance  ?  ' 
(Vol.  V.  pp.  11-13.) 

Whatever  hypothesis  we  select  to  explain  these 
mysteries,  they  do  not  become  less  marvellous. 
Even  if  we  grant  that  it  is  mere  telepathy,  or  mind 


104  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

affecting  mind  at  a  distance  without  the  use  of 
the  recognised  organs  of  sense  or  of  any  of  the 
ordinary  conducting  mediums,  what  an  enormous 
extension  it  gives  to  the  ordinary  conception  of  the 
limits  of  the  human  mind  !     To  be  able  instan- 
taneously to  paint  upon  the  retina  of  a  friend's 
eye  the  life-like  image  of  ourselves,  to  make  our 
voice  sound  in  his  ears  at  a  distance  of  many 
miles,  and  to  communicate  to  his  mind  inform- 
ation which  he  had  never  before  heard  of,  all  this 
is,  it  may  be  admitted,  as  tremendous  a  draft  upon 
the  credulity  of  mankind  as  the  favourite  Theo- 
sophical  formula  of  the  astral  body.    Yet  who  is 
there  who,  in  face  of  the  facts  and  experiences 
recorded  above,  will  venture  to  deny  that  one  or 
other  of  these  hypotheses  alone  can  account  for 
the  phenomena  under  consideration  ? 

It  is  obvious  that  when  once  the  possibility  of 
the  Double  is  admitted,  many  mysteries  could  be 
cleared  up,  although  it  is  also  true  that  a  great 
many  inconveniences  would  immediately  follow  ; 
the  establishment  of  the  reality  of  the  double 
would  invalidate  every  plea  of  alibi.  If  a  man  can 
really  be  in  two  places  at  one  time,  there  is  an  end 
to  the  plea  which  is  most  frequently  resorted  to  by 
the  accused  to  prove  their  innocence.  There  are 
other  inconveniences,  which  are  alluded  to  in  the 
following  letter  from  a  lady  correspondent,  who 
believes  that  she  has  the  faculty  in  frequent,  al- 
though uncertain  and  unconscious,  use  :— 

'  I  saw  you  yesterday,  and  you  cut  me.'  Such 
was  the  remark  I  frequently  heard  from  my  friends: 
in  the  broad  daylight  they  saw  me  in  street  or 


THE  THOUGHT  BODY,  OR  THE  DOUBLE  105 

tram,  etc.     Once  a  personal  friend  followed  me 
into  church  on  Christmas  Day  in  a  city  at  least 
100  miles  from  where  I  really  was.    Another  time 
I  sat  two  pews  in  front  of  a  friend  at  a  cathedral 
service.     When  I  denied  having  been  there,  she 
said,  '  It's  no  good  talking  :   I  saw  you,  and  you 
didn't  want  to  wait  forme/    '  But,  '  I  said,  '  you 
have  my  word  that  I  was  not  there.'    '  Yes/  she 
said,  '  but  I  have  my  sight,  and  I  saw  you/    Of 
course,  I  naturally  thought  it  was  some  one  like 
me,  and  said,  perhaps  rather  sarcastically,  '  Would 
it  be  very  strange  if  any  one  else  bore  some  resem- 
blance to  me  ?  '    '  No/  said  my  friend,  '  it  would 
not ;  but  someone  else  doesn't  wear  your  clothes/ 
On  one  occasion  I  remember  three  people  saw  me 
where  I  certainly  was  not  physically  present  the 
same   day ;    all  knew  me  personally.     I   often 
bought  books  of  a  man  who  kept  a  second-hand 
bookstall.     One  day  he  told  me  that  he  had  a 
somewhat  rare  edition  of  a  book  I  wanted,  but 
that  it  was  at  the  shop.    I  said,  '  I'll  come  across 
to-morrow  for  it  if  I  make  up  my  mind  to  give  the 
price/    The  next  day  I  was  prevented  from  going, 
and  went  the  day  after,  to  hear  it  was  sold.    '  Why 
didn't  you  keep  it  ?  '  I  asked.     '  I  thought  you 
did  not  want  it  when  you  came  yesterday  and  did 
not   buy   it/      '  But   I    didn't   come   yesterday/ 
'  Why,  excuse  me,  you  did,  and  took  the  book  up 
and  laid  it  down  again  while  I  was  serving  Mr.  M., 
and  you  went  away  before  I  could  ask  you  about 
it ;  Mr.  M.  remarked  that  it  was  strange  you  did  not 
answer  him  when  he  spoke/     When  I  asked  the 
gentleman  referred  to,   he  confirmed  the  story. 


106  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

Mrs.  B.  also  saw  me  lower  down  the  same  street 
that  morning. 

"  Still  it  never  struck  me  that  it  was  anything 
strange  ;  I  was  only  rather  curious  to  see  the 
woman  who  was  so  like  me.  I  saw  her  in  an  un- 
expected manner.  Going  into  my  room  one  night, 
I  happened  to  glance  down  at  my  bed,  and  saw  a 
form  there.  I  thought  it  strange,  yet  was  not 
startled.  I  bent  over  it,  and  recognised  my  own 
features  distinctly.  I  was  in  perfect  health  at  the 
time,  and  no  disaster  followed/' 

Queen  Elizabeth's  Double. 

In  a  volume  published  by  Macmillan  &  Co., 
entitled  "  Legendary  Fictions  of  the  Irish  Celt," 
I  find  the  following  references  to  the  Double  :— 

(t  If  this  phantom  be  seen  in  the  morning  it 
betokens  good  fortune  and  long  life  to  its  proto- 
type ;  if  in  the  evening  a  near  death  awaits  him. 
This  superstition  was  known  and  felt  in  England 
even  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth.  We  quote  a  passage 
from  Miss  Strickland's  account  of  her  last  illness  :— 

"  '  As  her  mortal  illness  drew  towards  a  close, 
the  superstitious  fears  of  her  simple  ladies  were 
excited  almost  to  mania,  even  to  conjuring  up  a 
spectral  apparition  of  the  Queen  while  she  was  yet 
alive.  Lady  Guildford,  who  was  then  in  waiting  on 
the  Queen,  leaving  her  in  an  almost  breathless 
sleep  in  her  privy  chamber,  went  out  to  take  a 
little  air,  and  met  her  Majesty,  as  she  thought, 
three  or  four  chambers  off.  Alarmed  art  the 
thought  of  being  discovered  in  the  act  of  leaving 
the  Royal  patient  alone,  she  hurried  forward 


THE  THOUGHT  BODY,  OR  THE  DOUBLE  107 

in  some  trepidation  in  order  to  excuse  herself, 
when  the  apparition  vanished  away.  She  re- 
turned terrified  to  the  chamber,  but  there  lay  the 
Queen  still  in  the  same  lethargic  slumber  in  which 
she  left  her/  " 


PART  III. 

CLAIRVOYANCE— THE  VISION  OF  THE 
OUT  OF  SIGHT. 


"Moreover,  the  spirit  lifted  me  up  and  brought  me  unto  the  East 
gate,  and,  behold,  at  the  door  of  the  gate  five-and-twenty  men,  among 
whom  I  saw,"  etc. — EZEKIEI,  xi.  i. 


CHAPTER  I. 


THE  ASTRAI,  CAMERA. 

WHEN  I  was  staying  at  Orchard  L,ea,  in  Windsor 
Forest,  I  did  most  of  my  writing  in  a  spacious 
window  on  the  first  floor  looking  out  over  the 
garden.  It  opened  French  fashion,  and  thereby 
occasioned  a  curious  optical  illusion,  which 
may  perhaps  help  to  shed  some  light  upon 
the  phenomena  now  under  consideration.  For 
when  the  sun  was  high  in  the  sky  and  the  French 
window  was  set  at  a  certain  angle,  the  whole  of 
the  flowers,  figures,  etc.,  on  my  right  hand  ap- 
peared reflected  upon  the  lawn  on  the  left  hand 
as  vividly  as  if  they  actually  existed  in  duplicate. 
So  real  was  the  illusion  that  for  some  hours  I  was 
under  the  impression  that  a  broad  yellow  gravel 


CLAIRVOYANCE  1 09 

path  actually  stretched  across  the  lawn  on  my 
left!  It  was  only  when  a  little  dog  ran  along  the 
spectral  path  and  suddenly  vanished  into  thin  air 
that  I  discovered  the  illusion.  Nothing  could  be 
more  complete,  more  life-like.  The  real  persons 
who  walked  up  the  gravel  to  the  house  walked 
across  the  spectral  gravel,  apparently  in  duplicate. 
Both  could  be  seen  at  one  and  the  same  time.  I 
instantly  thought  that  they  could  be  photo- 
graphed, so  as  to  show  the  duplication  produced 
by  the  illusion.  Unfortunately,  although  the 
spectral  path  was  distinctly  visible  through  the 
glass  to  the  eye,  no  impression  whatever  was  left 
on  the  sensitive  plate.  My  friend  writes  :— 

"  I  have  tried  the  phantom  path,  and  I  am 
sorry  to  say  it  is  too  phantom  to  make  any  im- 
pression on  the  plate.  All  that  you  get  is  the  blaze 
of  light  from  the  glass  window,  some  very  faint 
trees,  and  no  path  at  all.  Possibly,  with  a  June 
sun,  it  might  have  been  different ;  but  I  doubt  it, 
as  one  is  told  never  to  put  the  camera  facing  a 
window.  It  is  having  to  take  through  the  glass 
window  which  is  fatal." 

This  set  me  thinking:  It  was  a  simple  optical 
illusion,  no  doubt,  similar  to  that  which  enabled 
Pepper  to  produce  his  ghosts  at  the  Polytechnic. 
But  what  was  the  agency  which  enabled  me  to 
see  the  figures  and  flowers,  and  trees  and  gravel, 
all  transferred,  as  by  the  cunning  act  of  some 
magician,  from  the  right  to  the  left  ?  Simply  a 
swinging  pane  of  perfectly  transparent  glass.  To 
those  who  have  neither  studied  the  laws  of  optics 
nor  seen  the  phenomenon  in  question,  it  must 


no  REAL  GHOST  STORIES 

seem  impossible  that  a  pellucid  window-pane 
could  transfer  so  faithfully  that  which  happened 
at  one  end  of  the  garden  to  the  other  as  to  cause 
it  to  be  mistaken  for  reality.  Yet  there  was  the 
phenomenon  before  my  eyes.  The  dog  ran 
double — the  real  dog  to  the  right,  the  spectral 
dog  to  the  left — and  no  one  could  tell  at  first  sight 
"  t'other  from  which/'  Now,  may  it  not  be  that 
this  supplies  a  suggestion  as  to  the  cause  of  the 
phenomenon  of  clairvoyance  ?  Is  it  not  possible 
that  there  may  exist  in  Nature  some  as  yet 
undiscovered  analogue  to  the  swinging  window- 
pane  which  may  enable  us  to  see  before  our  eyes 
here  and  now  events  which  are  transpiring  at  the 
other  end  of  the  world  ?  In  the  mysterious,  sub- 
conscious world  in  which  the  clairvoyant  lives, 
may  there  not  be  some  subtle,  sympathetic  lens, 
fashioned  out  of  strong  affection  or  some  other 
relation,  which  may  enable  some  of  us  to  see  that 
which  is  quite  invisible  to  the  ordinary  eye  ? 

A  Surrey  Laundry  Seen  in  Cornwall. 

Such  thoughts  came  to  my  mind  when  I  asked 
the  Housekeeper  whether  she  had  ever  seen  any 
of  the  phantasmal  apparitions  of  her  mistress, 
my  hostess,  Mrs.  M.  The  housekeeper,  a  com- 
fortable, buxom  Cornish  woman,  smiled  incredu- 
lously. No,  she  had  seen  nothing,  heard  nothing, 
believed  nothing.  "As  to  phantasmal  bodies,  she 
would  prefer  to  see  them  first/'  "  Had  she  ever 
seen  a  ghost  ?  '  "  No,  never/'  "  Had  ever  had 
any  hallucinations  ?  '  "  No,"  But  one  thing  had 
happened,  "  rather  curious  "  now  that  she  came 


CLAIRVOYANCE  III 

to  think  of  it.  Last  year,  when  living  on  the  coast 
far  down  in  the  west  country,  she  had  suddenly 
seen  as  in  a  dream  the  house  in  Hindhead  where 
we  were  now  standing.  She  had  never  been  in 
Surrey  in  her  life.  She  had  no  idea  that  she  would 
ever  go  there,  nor  did  she  know  that  it  was  in 
Surrey.  What  she  saw  was  the  laundry.  She  was 
standing  inside  it,  and  remarked  to  her  husband 
how  strange  and  large  it  looked.  She  looked  out 
at  the  windows  and  saw  the  house  and  the  sur- 
roundings with  strange  distinctness.  Then  the 
vision  faded  away,  leaving  no  other  impress  on  the 
mind  than  that  she  had  seen  an  exceptionally  large 
laundry  close  to  a  small  country-house  in  a  place 
where  she  had  never  been  in  before. 

vSix  months  passed  ;  she  and  her  husband  had 
decided  to  leave  the  west  country  and  take  a 
housekeeper  and  gardener's  post  elsewhere.  They 
replied  to  an  advertisement,  were  appointed  by 
my  hostess ;  they  transferred  themselves  to 
Hindhead,  where  they  arrived  in  the  dead  of 
winter.  When  they  reached  their  new  quarters 
she  saw,  to  her  infinite  astonishment,  the  precise 
place  she  had  seen  six  months  before.  The  laundry 
was  unmistakable.  There  is  not  such  another 
laundry  in  the  county  of  Surrey.  There  it  was, 
sure  enough,  and  there  was  the  house,  and  there 
were  all  the  surroundings  exactly  as  she  had  seen 
them  down  on  the  south-west  coast.  She  did  not 
believe  in  ghosts  or  phantasmal  bodies  or  such  like 
things,  but  one  thing  she  knew  beyond  all  possi- 
bility of  doubt.  She  had  seen  her  new  home  and 
laundry  on  the  top  of  Hindhead,  when  living  in 


REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

the  west  country  six  months  before  she  ever  set 
foot  in  Surrey,  or  even  knew  of  the  existence  of 
Mrs.  M.  '  The  moment  I  saw  it  I  recognised  it 
and  told  my  husband  that  it  was  the  identical 
place  I  had  seen  when  in  our  old  home." 

William  Howitt's  Vision. 

l-,The  Housekeeper's  story  is  very  simple,  and 
almost  too  commonplace.  But  its  significance  lies 
in  those  very  characteristics.  Here  was  no  con- 
suming passion,  no  bond  of  sympathy,  nothing 
whatever  material  or  sentimental  to  act  as  the 
refracting  medium  by  which  the  Hindhead  laundry 
could  have  been  made  visible  in  South  Devon. 
Yet  similar  phenomena  are  of  constant  occurrence. 
A  very  remarkable  case  in  point  is  that  of  William 
Howitt  who,  when  on  a  voyage  out  to  Australia, 
saw  his  brother's  house  at  Melbourne  so  plainly 
that  he  described  it  on  board  ship,  and  recognised 
it  the  moment  he  landed.  Here  is  his  own  version 
of  this  remarkable  instance  of  clairvoyance  :— 
fey  Some  weeks  ago,  while  yet  at  sea,  I  had  a] 
dream  of  being  at  my  brother's  at  Melbourne,  and 
found  his  house  on  a  hill  at  the  further  end  of  the 
town,  and  next  to  the  open  forest.  His  garden 
sloped  a  little  down  the  hill  to  some  brick  buildings 
below  ;  and  there  were  greenhouses  on  the  right 
hand  by  the  wall,  as  you  look  down  the  hill  from 
the  house.  As  I  looked  out  of  the  window  in  my 
dream,  I  saw  a  wood  of  dusky-foliaged  trees 
having  a  somewhat  segregated  appearance  in  their 
heads — that  is,  their  heads  did  not  make  that 
dense  mass  like  our  trees.  '  There,'  I  said  to  some 


CLAIRVOYANCE  113 

one  in  my  dream,  '  I  see  your  native  forest  of 
eucalyptus  !  ' 

'  This  dream  I  told  to  my  sons  and  to  two  of 
my  fellow-passengers  at  the  time,  and  on  landing, 
as  we  walked  over  the  meadows,  long  before  we 
reached  the  town,  I  saw  this  very  wood.  '  There/ 
I  said,  '  is  the  very  wood  of  my  dream.  We  shall 
see  my  brother's  house  there  !  And  so  we  did. 
It  stands  exactly  as  I  saw  it,  only  looking  newer  ; 
but  there,  over  the  wall  of  the  garden,  is  the  wood, 
precisely  as  I  saw  it  and  now  see  it  as  I  sit  at  the 
dining-room  window  writing.  When  I  looked  on 
this  scene  I  seem  to  look  into  my  dream."  (Owen's 
"Footfalls,"  p.  118.) 

The  usual  explanation  of  these  things  is  that 
the  vision  is  the  revival  of  some  forgotten  im- 
pressions on  the  brain.  But  in  neither  of  the 
foregoing  cases  will  that  explanation  suffice,  for 
in  neither  case  had  the  person  who  saw  ever  been 
in  the  place  of  which  they  had  a  vision.  One 
desperate  resource,  the  convenient  theory  of  pre- 
existence,  is  useless  here.  The  fact  seems  to  be 
that  there  is  a  kind  of  invisible  camera  obscura 
in  Nature,  which  at  odd  times  gives  us  glimpses 
of  things  happening  or  existing  far  beyond  the 
range  of  our  ordinary  vision.  The  other  day  when 
in  Edinburgh  I  climbed  up  to  the  Camera  Obscura 
that  stands  near  the  castle,  and  admired  the  simple 
device  by  which,  in  a  darkened  room  upon  a  white, 
paper-covered  table,  the  whole  panorama  of  Edin- 
burgh life  was  displayed  before  me.  There  were 
the  "  recruities  "  drilling  on  the  Castle  Esplanade  ; 
there  were  the  passers-by  hurrying  along  High 

H 


ii4  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

Street ;  there  were  the  birds  on  the  housetops, 
and  the  landscape  of  chimneys  and  steeples,  all 
revealed  as  if  in  the  crystal  of  a  wizard's  cave. 
The  coloured  shadows  chased  each  other  across 
the  paper,  leaving  no  trace  behind.  Five  hundred 
years  ago  the  owner  of  that  camera  would  have 
been  burned  as  a  wizard  ;  now  he  makes  a  com- 
fortable living  out  of  the  threepennypieces  of 
inquisitive  visitors.  Is  it  possible  to  account  for 
the  phenomena  of  clairvoyance  other  than  by  the 
supposition  that  there  exists  somewhere  in  Nature 
a  gigantic  camera  obscura  which  reflects  every- 
thing, and  to  which  clairvoyants  habitually,  and 
other  mortals  occasionally,  have  access  ? 

Seen  and  Heard  at  150  Miles  Range. 

The  preceding  incidents  simply  record  a  pre- 
vision of  places  subsequently  visited.  The  follow- 
ing are  instances  in  which  not  only  places,  but 
occurrences,  were  seen  as  in  a  camera  by  persons 
at  a  distance  varying  from  150  to  several  thousand 
miles.  Space  seems  to  have  no  existence  for  the 
clairvoyant.  They  are  quoted  from  the  published 
"  Proceedings  of  the  Psychical  Research  Society  "  : 

On  September  9th,  1848,  at  the  siege  of 
Mooltan,  Major-General  R ,  C.B.,  then  adju- 
tant of  his  regiment,  was  most  severely  and 
dangerously  wounded  ;  and  supposing  himself  to 
be  dying,  asked  one  of  the  officers  with  him  to 
take  the  ring  off  his  ringer  and  send  it  to  his  wife, 
who  at  the  time  was  fully  150  miles  distant,  at 
Ferozepore. 

"  On  the  night  of  September  9th,  1848,"  writes 


CLAIRVOYANCE  115 

his  wife,  "  I  was  lying  on  my  bed  between  sleeping 
and  waking,  when  I  distinctly  saw  my  husband 
being  carried  off  the  field,  seriously  wounded,  and 
heard  his  voice  saying,  '  Take  this  ring  off  my 
finger  and  send  it  to  my  wife/  All  the  next  day 
I  could  not  get  the  sight  or  the  voice  out  of  my 
mind.  In  due  time  I  heard  of  General  R— 
having  been  severely  wounded  in  the  assault  of 
Mooltan.  He  survived,  however,  and  is  still 
living.  It  was  not  for  some  time  after  the  siege 
that  I  heard  from  General  I,—  — ,  the  officer  who 
helped  to  carry  General  R—  -  off  the  field,  that 
the  request  as  to  the  ring  was  actually  made  to 
him,  just  as  I  heard  it  at  Ferozepore  at  that  very 
time."  (Vol.  I.  p.  30.) 

A   Royal  Deathbed  in   France  seen  in  Scotland. 

The  above  case  is  remarkable  because  the  voice 
was  transmitted  as  well  as  the  spectacle.  In  the 
next  story  the  ear  heard  nothing,  but  the  scene 
itself  was  very  remarkable.  A  correspondent  of 
the  Psychical  Research  Society  writes  that  whilst 
staying  with  her  mother's  cousin,  Mrs.  Elizabeth 
Broughton,  wife  of  Mr.  Edward  Broughton,  Edin- 
burgh, and  daughter  of  the  late  Colonel  Blanckley, 
in  the  year  1844,  she  told  her  the  following  strange 
story  : — 

"  She  awoke  one  night  and  aroused  her  husband, 
telling  him  that  something  dreadful  had  happened 
in  France.  He  begged  her  to  go  to  sleep  again 
and  not  to  trouble  him.  She  assured  him  that 
she  was  not  asleep  when  she  saw  what  she  insisted 
on  then  telling  him — what  she  saw,  in  fact,  was ; 


Il6  CLAIRVOYANCE 

First,  a  carriage  accident — which  she  did  not 
actually  see,  but  what  she  saw  was  the  result — 
a  broken  carriage,  a  crowd  collected,  a  figure 
gently  raised  and  carried  into  the  nearest  house, 
then  a  figure  lying  on  a  bed,  which  she  then  recog- 
nised as  the  Duke  of  Orleans.  Gradually  friends 
collecting  round  the  bed — among  them  several 
members  of  the  French  royal  family — the  queen, 
then  the  king,  all  silently,  tearfully  watching  the 
evidently  dying  duke.  One  man  (she  could  see 
his  back,  but  did  not  know  who  he  was)  was  a 
doctor.  He  stood  bending  over  the  duke,  feeling 
his  pulse,  his  watch  in  the  other  hand.  And  then 
all  passed  away  ;  she  saw  no  more.  As  soon  as  it 
was  daylight  she  wrote  down  in  her  journal  all 
that  she  had  seen.  From  that  journal  she  read 
this  to  me.  It  was  before  the  days  of  electric 
telegraph,  and  two  or  more  days  passed  before 
the  Times  announced  '  The  Death  of  the  Duke  of 
Orleans.'  Visiting  Paris  a  short  time  afterwards, 
she  saw  and  recognised  the  place  of  the  accident 
and  received  the  explanation  of  her  impression. 
The  doctor  who  attended  the  dying  duke  was  an 
old  friend  of  hers,  and  as  he  watched  by  the  bed 
his  mind  had  been  constantly  occupied  with  her 
and  her  family."  Vol.  II.  p.  160.) 

The  doctor's  sympathy  may  have  been  the  key 
to  the  secret  camera  of  Nature,  but  it  in  no  wise 
"  explains  "  how  a  lady  in  Edinburgh  could  see 
what  went  on  inside  a  house  in  Paris  so  clearly  as 
to  know  what  had  happened  two  days  before  the 
intelligence  reached  the  Times. 


CLAIRVOYANCE  117 

An  African  Event  Seen  in  England. 

Here  is  another  story  where  the  event  occurred 
in  Africa  and  was  seen  in  England.  A  correspon- 
dent from  Wadhurst,  West  Dulwich,  S.E.,  says  :- 

"  My  late  husband  dreamt  a  certain  curious 
dream  about  his  brother,  Mr.  Ralph  Holden,  who 
was  at  that  time  travelling  in  the  interior  of  Africa. 
One  morning,  in  June  or  July,  1861,  my  husband 
woke  me  with  the  announcement,  '  Ralph  is  dead.' 
I  said,  '  You  must  be  dreaming/  '  No,  I  am  not 
dreaming  now  ;  but  I  dreamt  twice  over  that  I 
saw  Ralph  lying  on  the  ground  supported  by  a 
man/  They  learnt  afterwards  that  Ralph  must 
have  died  about  the  time  when  his  brother  dreamt 
about  him  and  that  he  had  died  in  the  arms  of  his 
faithful  native  servant,  lying  under  a  large  tree, 
where  he  was  afterwards  buried.  The  Holden 
family  have  sketches  of  the  tree  and  the  surround- 
ings, and,  on  seeing  it,  my  husband  said,  '  Yes, 
that  is  exactly  the  place  where  I  saw  Ralph  in  my 
dream,  dying  or  dead/  J  (Vol.  I.  p.  141.) 

A   Vision  Which  Saved  Many  Lives. 

Dr.  Horace  Bushnell,  in  his  "  Nature  and  the 
Supernatural/'  tells  a  story,  on  the  authority  of 
Captain  Yonnt,  which  differs  from  the  foregoing 
in  having  a  definite  purpose,  which,  fortunately, 
was  attained.  Captain  Yonnt,  a  patriarch  in  the 
Napa  valley  of  California,  told  Dr.  Bushnell  that 
six  or  seven  years  before  their  conversation  he  had 
seen  a  vision  which  saved  several  lives.  Here  is 
his  story  :— 

"  About  six  or  seven  years  previous,  in  a  mid- 


n8  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

winter's  night,  he  had  a  dream,  in  which  he  saw 
what  appeared  to  be  a  company  of  emigrants 
arrested  by  the  snows  of  the  mountains  and  perish- 
ing rapidly  by  cold  and  hunger.  He  noted  the  very 
cast  of  the  scenery,  marked  by  a  huge,  perpendicu- 
lar front  of  white  rock  cliff  ;  he  saw  the  men 
cutting  off  what  appeared  to  be  tree-tops  rising 
out  of  deep  gulfs  of  snow  ;  he  distinguished  the 
very  features  of  the  persons  and  the  look  of  their 
particular  distress.  He  awoke  profoundly  im- 
pressed by  the  distinctness  and  apparent  reality 
of  the  dream.  He  at  length  fell  asleep,  and 
dreamed  exactly  the  same  dream  over  again.  In 
the  morning  he  could  not  expel  it  from  his  mind. 
Falling  in  shortly  after  with  an  old  hunter  com- 
rade, he  told  his  story,  and  was  only  the  more 
deeply  impressed  by  his  recognising  without 
hesitation  the  scenery  of  the  dream.  This  comrade 
came  over  the  Sierra,  by  the  Carson  Valley  Pass, 
and  declared  that  a  spot  in  the  Pass  answered 
exactly  his  description.  By  this  the  unsophistical 
patriarch  was  decided.  He  immediately  collected 
a  company  of  men,  with  mules  and  blankets  and 
all  necessary  provisions.  The  neighbours  were 
laughing  meantime  at  his  credulity.  '  No  matter/ 
he  said,  '  I  am  able  to  do  this,  and  I  will ;  for  I 
verily  believe  that  the  fact  is  according  to  my 
dream/  The  men  were  sent  into  the  mountains 
one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  distant,  directly  to 
to  the  Carson  Valley  Pass.  And  there  they  found 
the  company  exactly  in  the  condition  of  the  dream, 
and  brought  in  the  remnant  alive/'  ("  Nature 
and  the  Supernatural/'  p.  14.) 


CLAIRVOYANCE  119 

The  Vision  of  a  Fire. 

The  wife  of  a  Dean  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in 
one  of  the  Southern  States  of  America  was  visit- 
ing at  my  house  while  I  was  busy  collecting 
materials  for  this  work.  Asking  her  the  usual 
question  as  to  whether  she  had  ever  experienced 
anything  of  the  phenomena  usually  called  super- 
natural, apparently  because  it  is  not  the  habitual 
experience  of  every  twenty-four  hours,  she  ridi- 
culed the  idea.  Ghosts  ?  not  she.  She  was  a 
severely  practical,  matter-of-fact  person,  who  used 
her  natural  senses,  and  had  nothing  to  do  with 
spirits.  But  was  she  quite  sure  ;  had  nothing  ever 
occurred  to  her  which  she  could  not  explain  ? 
Then  she  hesitated  and  said,  "  Well,  yes  ;  but 
there  is  nothing  supernatural  about  it.  I  was 
staying  away  down  in  Virginia,  some  hundred 
miles  from  home,  when  one  mornng,  about  eleven 
o'clock,  I  felt  an  over-powering  sleepiness.  I 
never  sleep  in  the  daytime,  and  that  drowsiness 
was,  I  think,  almost  my  only  experience  of  that 
kind.  I  was  so  sleepy  I  went  to  my  room  and 
lay  down.  In  my  sleep  I  saw  quite  distinctly  my 
home  at  Richmond  in  flames.  The  fire  had  broken 
out  in  one  wing  of  the  house,  which  I  saw  with 
dismay  was  where  I  kept  all  my  best  dresses. 
The  people  were  all  about  trying  to  check  the 
flames,  but  it  was  of  no  use.  My  husband  was 
there,  walking  about  before  the  burning  house, 
carrying  a  portrait  in  his  hand.  Everything  was 
quite  clear  and  distinct,  exactly  as  if  I  had  actually 
been  present  and  seen  everything.  After  a  time 
I  woke  up,  and,  going  downstairs,  told  my  friends 


120  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

the  strange  dream  I  had  had.  They  laughed  at 
me,  and  made  such  game  of  my  vision  that  I  did 
my  best  to  think  no  more  about  it.  I  was  travelling 
about,  a  day  or  two  passed,  and  when  Sunday 
came  I  found  myself  in  a  church  where  some 
relatives  were  worshipping.  When  I  entered  the 
pew  they  looked  rather  strange,  and  as  soon  as  the 
service  was  over  I  asked  them  what  was  the 
matter.  '  Don't  be  alarmed/  they  said,  '  there  is 
nothing  serious.'  They  then  handed  me  a  post- 
card from  my  husband,  which  simply  said,  '  House 
burned  out ;  covered  by  insurance/  The  date 
was  the  day  on  which  my  dream  occurred.  I 
hastened  home,  and  then  I  learned  that  everything 
had  happened  exactly  as  I  had  seen  it.  The  fire 
had  broken  out  in  the  wing  which  I  had  seen 
blazing.  My  clothes  were  all  burnt,  and  the  oddest 
thing  about  it  was  that  my  husband,  having 
rescued  a  favourite  picture  from  the  burning 
building,  had  carried  it  about  among  the  crowd 
for  some  time  before  he  could  find  a  place  in  which 
to  put  it  safely/'  Swedenborg,  it  will  be  remem- 
bered, also  had  a  clairvoyant  vision  of  a  fire  at  a 
great  distance. 

The  Loss  of  the  "  Strathmore." 

A  classic  instance  of  the  exercise  of  this  faculty 
is  the  story  of  the  wreck  of  the  Strathmore.  In 
brief  the  story  is  as  follows  : — The  father  of  a  son 
who  had  sailed  in  the  Strathmore,  an  emigrant  ship 
outward  bound  from  the  Clyde,  saw  one  night  the 
ship  foundering  amid  the  waves,  and  saw  that  his 
son,  with  some  others,  had  escaped  safely  to  a 


CLAIRVOYANCE  121 

desert  island  near  which  the  wreck  had  taken 
place.  He  was  so  much  impressed  by  this  vision 
that  he  wrote  to  the  owner  of  the  Stmthmore, 
telling  him  what  he  had  seen.  His  information 
was  scouted  ;  but  after  awhile  the  Strathmore  was 
overdue  and  the  owner  got  uneasy.  Day  followed 
day,  and  still  no  tidings  of  the  missing  ship.  Then, 
like  Pharaoh's  butler,  the  owner  remembered  his 
sins  one  day  and  hunted  up  the  letter  describing 
the  vision.  It  supplied  at  least  a  theory  to  account 
for  the  vessel's  disappearance.  All  outward 
bound  ships  were  requested  to  look  out  for  any 
survivors  on  the  island  indicated  in  the  vision. 
These  orders  being  obeyed,  the  survivors  of  the 
Strathmore  were  found  exactly  where  the  father 
had  seen  them.  In  itself  this  is  sufficient  to  con- 
found all  accepted  hypotheses.  Taken  in  connec- 
tion with  other  instances  of  a  similar  nature,  what 
can  be  said  of  it  excepting  that  it  almost  necessi- 
tates the  supposition  of  the  existence  of  the  in- 
visible camera  obscura  which  the  Theosophists 
describe  as  the  astral  light  ? 

The  Analogy  of  the  Camera  Obscura. 

Clairvoyance  can  often  be  explained  by  tele- 
pathy, especially  when  there  is  strong  sympathy 
between  the  person  who  sees  and  the  person  who  is 
seen.  Mr.  Edward  R.  lyipsitt,  of  Tralee,  sends  me 
the  following  narrative,  which  illustrates  this 
fact  :— 

"  I  beg  to  narrate  a  curious  case  of  telepathy  I 
experienced  when  quite  a  boy.  Some  ten  years 
ago  I  happened  to  sleep  one  night  in  the  same  room 


122  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

with  a  young  friend  of  about  my  own  age.  There 
existed  a  very  strong  sympathy  between  us.  I 
got  up  early  and  went  out  for  a  short  walk,  leaving 
my  friend  fast  asleep  in  his  bed.  I  went  in  the 
direction  of  a  well-known  lake  in  that  district. 
After  gazing  for  some  moments  at  the  silent  waters, 
I  espied  a  large  black  dog  making  towards  me.  I 
turned  my  back  and  fled,  the  dog  following  me 
for  some  distance.  My  boots  then  being  in  a  bad 
condition,  one  of  the  soles  came  off  in  the  flight ; 
however,  I  came  away  unmolested  by  the  dog. 
But  how  amazed  was  I  when  upon  entering  the 
room  my  friend,  who  was  just  rubbing  his  eyes 
and  yawning,  related  to  me  my  adventure  word  by 
word,  describing  even  the  colour  of  the  dog  and 
the  very  boot  (the  right  one)  the  sole  of  which  gave 
way  !  ' 

Motiveless  Visions. 

There  is  often  no  motive  whatever  to  be  dis- 
covered in  the  apparition.  A  remarkable  instance 
of  this  is  recorded  by  Mr.  Myers  in  an  article  in 
the  Arena,  where  the  analogy  to  a  camera  obscura 
is  very  close.  The  camera  reflects  everything  that 
happens.  Nothing  is  either  great  or  small  to  its 
impartial  lens.  But  if  you  do  not  happen  to  be 
in  the  right  place,  or  if  the  room  is  not  properly 
darkened,  or  if  the  white  paper  is  taken  off  the 
table,  you  see  nothing.  We  have  not  yet  mastered 
the  conditions  of  the  astral  camera.  Here,  how- 
ever, is  Mr.  Myers'  story,  which  he  owes  to  the 
kindness  of  Dr.  Elliott  Coues,  who  happened  to 

call  on  Mrs.  C the  very  day  on  which  that 

lady  received  the  following  letter  from  her  friend 
Mrs.  B . 


CLAIRVOYANCE  123 

"  '  Monday  evening,  January  14th,  1889. 
'  My  Dear  Friend, — I  know  you  will  be  sur- 
prised to  receive  a  note  from  me  so  soon,  but  not 
more  so  than  I  was  to-day,  when  you  were  showrn 
to  me  clairvoyantly,  in  a  somewhat  embarrassed 
position.  I  doubt  very  much  if  there  was  any 
truth  in  it ;  nevertheless,  I  will  relate  it,  and  leave 
you  to  laugh  at  the  idea  of  it. 

'  I  was  sitting  in  my  room  sewing  this  afternoon, 
about  two  o'clock,  when  what  should  I  see  but 
your  own  dear  self  ;  but,  heavens  !  in  what  a 
position.  Now,  I  don't  want  to  excite  your 
curiosity  too  much,  or  try  your  patience  too  long, 
so  will  come  to  the  point  at  once.  You  were  falling 
up  the  front  steps  in  the  yard.  You  had  on  your 
black  skirt  and  velvet  waist,  your  little  straw 
bonnet,  and  in  your  hand  were  some  papers.  When 
you  fell,  your  hat  went  in  one  direction,  and  the 
papers  in  another.  You  got  up  very  quickly,  put 
on  your  bonnet,  picked  up  the  papers,  and  lost  no 
time  getting  into  the  house.  You  did  not  appear 
to  be  hurt,  but  looked  somewhat  mortified.  It 
was  all  so  plain  to  me  that  I  had  ten  to  one  notions 
to  dress  myself  and  come  over  and  see  if  it  were 
true,  but  finally  concluded  that  a  sober,  industrious 
woman  like  yourself  wrould  not  be  stumbling 
around  at  that  rate,  and  thought  I'd  best  not  go 
on  a  wild  goose  chase.  Now,  what  do  you  think  of 
such  a  vision  as  that  ?  Is  there  any  possible  truth 
in  it  ?  I  feel  almost  ready  to  scream  with  laughter 
whenever  I  think  of  it ;  you  did  look  too  funny, 
spreading  yourself  out  in  the  front  yard.  "  Great 
was  the  fall  thereof."  ' 


124  RKAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

"This  letter  came  to  us  in  an  envelope  addressed : 

Mrs.  E.  A.  C ,  217  Del.  Ave.,  N.E.,  Washington, 

D.C.,  and  with  the  postmarks,  Washington,  D.C., 
Jan.  15,  7  a.m.,  1889,  and  Washington,  N.E.C.S., 
Jan.  15,  8  a.m. 

"  Now  the  point  is  that  every  detail  in  this  tele- 
pathic vision  was  correct.  Mrs.  C—  -  had  actually 
(as  she  tells  me  in  a  letter  dated  March  7th,  1889) 
fallen  in  this  way,  at  this  place,  in  the  dress  des- 
cribed, at  2.41,  on  January  14th.  The  coincidence 
can  hardly  have  been  due  to  chance.  If  we  suppose 
that  the  vision  preceded  the  accident,  we  shall 
have  an  additional  marvel,  which,  however,  I  do 
not  think  we  need  here  face.  '  About  2,'  in  a 
letter  of  this  kind,  may  quite  conceivably  have 
meant  2.41." 

The  exceeding  triviality  of  the  incident  often 
destroys  the  possibility  of  belief  in  the  ordinary 
superstition  that  it  was  a  direct  Divine  revelation. 
This  may  be  plausible  in  cases  of  the  Strathmore, 
where  the  intelligence  was  communicated  of  the 
loss  of  an  English  ship,  but  no  one  can  seriously 
hold  it  when  the  only  information  to  be  communi- 
cated was  a  stumble  on  the  stairs. 

Considering  the  enormous  advantages  which 
such  an  astral  camera  would  place  in  the  hands  of 
the  detective  police,  I  was  not  surprised  to  be  told 
that  the  officers  of  the  Criminal  Investigation 
Department  in  lyondon  and  Chicago  occasionally 
consult  clairvoyants  as  to  the  place  where  stolen 
goods  are  to  be  found,  or  where  the  missing 
criminals  may  be  lurking. 


CLAIRVOYANCE  125 

Mr.  Burt's  Dream. 

When  I  was  in  Newcastle  I  availed  myself  of 
the  opportunity  to  call  upon  Mr.  Burt,  M.P.  On 
questioning  him  as  to  whether  he  had  ever  seen  a 
ghost,  he  replied  in  the  negative,  but  remarked 
that  he  had  had  one  experience  which  had  made 
a  deep  impression  upon  his  mind,  which  partook 
more  of  the  nature  of  clairvoyance  than  the 
apparition  of  a  phantom.  "  I  suppose  it  was  a 
dream/'  said  Mr.  Burt.  "  The  dream  or  vision, 
or  whatever  else  you  call  it,  made  a  deep  im- 
pression upon  my  mind.  You  remember  Mr. 
Crawford,  the  Durham  miners'  agent,  was  ill  for 
a  long  time  before  his  death.  Just  before  his 
death  he  rallied,  and  we  all  hoped  he  was  going 
to  get  better.  I  had  heard  nothing  to  the  con- 
trary, when  one  morning  early  I  had  a  very  vivid 
dream.  I  dreamed  that  I  was  standing  by  the 
bedside  of  my  old  friend.  I  passed  my  hand  over 
his  brow,  and  he  spoke  to  me  with  great  tender- 
ness, with  much  greater  tenderness  than  he  had 
ever  spoken  before.  He  said  he  was  going  to  die, 
and  that  he  wras  comforted  by  the  long  and  close 
friendship  that  had  existed  between  us.  I  was 
much  touched  by  the  feeling  with  which  he  spoke, 
and  felt  awed  as  if  I  were  in  the  presence  of  death. 
When  I  woke  up  the  impression  was  still  strong 
in  my  mind,  and  I  could  not  resist  the  feeling  that 
Crawford  was  dying.  In  a  few  hours  I  received 
a  telegram  stating  that  he  was  dead.  This  is  more 
remarkable  because  I  fully  expected  he  was  going 
to  get  better,  and  at  the  moment  of  my  dream  he 
seems  to  have  died.  I  cannot  give  any  explanation 


126  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

of  how  it  came  about.    It  is  a  mystery  to  me,  and 
likely  to  remain  so." 

This  astral  camera,  to  which  "  future  things 
unfolded  lie/'  also  retains  the  imperishable  image 
of  all  past  events.  Mr.  Browning's  great  uncle's 
studs  brought  vividly  to  the  mind  of  the  clair- 
voyant a  smell  of  blood,  and  recalled  all  the  par- 
ticulars of  the  crime  of  which  they  had  been  silent 
witnesses.  Any  article  or  relic  may  serve  as  a 
key  to  unlock  the  chamber  of  this  hidden  camera. 


CHAPTER  II. 

TRAGIC  HAPPENINGS  SEEN  IN  DREAMS. 

/ 
An  Irish  Outrage  Seen  'in  a  Dream. 

ONE  of  the  best  stories  of  clairvoyance  as  a 
means  of  throwing  light  on  crime  is  thus  told  by  a 
correspondent  of  the  Psychical  Research  Society  : 

One  morning  in  December,  1836,  he  had  the 
following  dream,  or,  he  would  prefer  to  call  it, 
revelation.  He  found  himself  suddenly  at  the 
gate  of  Major  N.  M.'s  avenue,  many  miles  from 
his  home.  Close  to  him  was  a  group  of  persons, 
one  of  whom  was  a  woman  with  a  basket  on  her 
arm,  the  rest  men,  four  of  whom  were  tenants 
of  his  own,  while  the  others  were  unknown  to  him. 
Some  of  the  strangers  seemed  to  be  murderously 
assaulting  H.  W.,  one  of  his  tenants,  and  he  inter- 
fered. f<  I  struck  violently  at  the  man  on  my  left, 
and  then  with  greater  violence  at  the  man's  face 
on  my  right.  Finding,  to  my  surprise,  that  I  had 
not  knocked  down  either,  I  struck  again  and  again 
with  all  the  violence  of  a  man  frenzied  at  the 
sight  of  my  poor  friend's  murder.  To  my  great 
amazement  I  saw  my  arms,  although  visible  to 
my  eye,  were  without  substance,  and  the  bodies 
of  the  men  I  struck  at  and  my  own  came  close 
together  after  each  blow  through  the  shadowy 
arms  I  struck  with.  My  blows  were  delivered  with 
more  extreme  violence  than  I  ever  think  I  exerted, 
but  I  became  painfully  convinced  of  my  incom- 


ia8  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

petency.  I  have  no  consciousness  of  what  hap- 
pened after  this  feeling  of  unsubstantiality  came 
upon  me."  Next  morning  he  experienced  the 
stiffness  and  soreness  of  violent  bodily  exercise, 
and  was  informed  by  his  wife  that  in  the  course 
of  the  night  he  had  much  alarmed  her  by  striking 
out  again  and  again  with  his  arms  in  a  terrific 
manner,  '  as  if  fighting  for  his  life.'  He,  in  turn, 
informed  her  of  his  dream,  and  begged  her  to  re- 
member the  names  of  those  actors  in  it  who  were 
known  to  him.  On  the  morning  of  the  following 
day  (Wednesday)  he  received  a  letter  from  his 
agent,  who  resided  in  the  town  close  to  the  scene 
of  the  dream,  informing  him  that  his  tenant  had 
been  found  on  Tuesday  morning  at  Major  N.  M.'s 
gate,  speechless  and  apparently  dying  from  a 
fracture  of  the  skull,  and  that  there  was  no  trace 
of  the  murderers.  That  night  he  started  for  the 
town,  and  arrived  there  on  Thursday  morning. 
On  his  way  to  a  meeting  of  magistrates  he  met  the 
senior  magistrate  of  that  part  of  the  country, 
and  requested  him  to  give  orders  for  the  arrest  of 
the  three  men  whom,  besides  H.W.,  he  had  recog- 
nised in  his  dream,  and  to  have  them  examined 
separately.  This  was  at  once  done.  The  three 
men  gave  identical  accounts  of  the  occurrence, 
and  all  named  the  woman  who  was  with  them. 
She  was  then  arrested,  and  gave  precisely  similar 
testimony.  They  said  that  between  eleven  and 
twelve  on  the  Monday  night  they  had  been  walking 
homewards  along  the  road,  when  they  were  over- 
taken by  three  strangers,  two  of  whom  savagely 
assaulted  H.  W.,  while  the  other  prevented  his 


CLAIRVOYANCE  129 

friends  from  interfering.  H.  W.  did  not  die,  but 
was  never  the  same  man  afterwards  ;  he  subse- 
quently emigrated.  (Vol.  I.  p.  142.) 

The  advantage  which  would  accrue  from  the 
universal  establishment  of  this  instantaneous  vision 
would  not  be  unmixed.  That  it  is  occasionally 
very  useful  is  obvious. 

A  Clairvoyant  Vision  oj  a  Murder. 

The  most  remarkable  experiment  in  clairvoyant 
detection  that  I  have  ever  come  across  is  told  by 
Dr.  Backman,  of  Kalmar,  in  a  recent  number  of 
the  "  Psychical  Research  Society's  Proceedings." 
It  is  as  follows  :— 

"  In  the  month  of  October,  1888,  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Kalmar  was  shocked  by  a  horrible  murder 
committed  in  the  parish  of  Wissefjerda,  which  was 
about  fifty  kilometres  from  Kalmar  as  the  crow 
flies.  What  happened  was  that  a  farmer  named 
P.  J.  Gustafsson  had  been  killed  by  a  shot  when 
driving,  having  been  forced  to  stop  by  stones 
having  been  placed  on  the  road.  The  murder 
had  been  committed  in  the  evening,  and  a  certain 
tramp  was  suspected,  because  Gustafsson,  in  his 
capacity  of  under  bailiff,  had  arrested  him,  and 
he  had  then  undergone  several  years'  penal  servi- 
tude. 

'  This  was  all  that  I  or  the  public  knew  about 
the  case  on  November  1st  of  the  same'year.  The 
place  where  the  murder  was  committed  and  the 
persons  implicated  in  it  were  quite  unknown  to  me 
and  the  clairvoyant, 

"  On  the  same  day,  November  1st,  having  some 

i 


130  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

reason  to  believe  that  such  a  trial  would  be  at 
least  partially  successful,  I  experimented  with  a 
clairvoyant,  Miss  Agda  Olsen,  to  try  if  it  was 
possible  to  get  some  information  in  this  way  about 
such  an  event. 

"  The  judge  of  the  neighbourhood,  who  had  pro- 
mised to  be  present,  was  unfortunately  prevented 
from  coming.  The  clairvoyant  was  hypnotised  in 
my  wife's  presence,  and  was  then  ordered  '  to 
look  for  the  place  where  the  murder  had  been 
committed  and  see  the  whole  scene,  follow  the 
murderer  in  his  flight,  and  describe  him  and  his 
home  and  the  motive  for  the  murder.'  Miss 
Olsen  then  spoke  as  follows,  in  great  agitation, 
sometimes  using  violent  gestures.  I  took  notes 
of  her  exact  words  and  reproduce  them  here  fully. 

"  '  It  is  between  two  villages — I  see  a  road — 
in  a  wood — now  it  is  coming — the  gun — now  he  is 
coming  along,  driving — the  horse  is  afraid  of  the 
stones — hold  the  horse  !  hold  the  horse  !  now  ! 
now  he  is  killing  him — he  was  kneeling  when  he 
fired — blood  !  blood  ! — now  he  is  running  in  the 
wood — seize  him  ! — he  is  running  in  an  opposite 
direction  to  the  horse  in  many  circuits — not  on 
any  footpaths.  He  wears  a  cap  and  grey  clothes — 
light — has  long  coarse  brown  hair,  which  has  not 
been  cut  for  a  long  time — grey-blue  eyes — treacher- 
ous looks — great  dark  brown  beard — he  is  accus- 
tomed to  work  on  the  land.  I  believe  he  has  cut 
his  right  hand.  He  has  a  scar  or  a  streak  between 
his  thumb  and  forefinger.  He  is  suspicious  and  a 
coward. 

"  '  The  murderer's  home  is  a  red  wooden  house, 


CLAIRVOYANCE  131 

standing  a  little  way  back  from  the  road.  On 
the  ground-floor  is  a  room  which  leads  into  the 
kitchen,  and  from  that  again  into  the  passage. 
There  is  also  a  larger  room  which  does  not  com- 
municate with  the  kitchen.  The  church  of  Wissef- 
jerda  is  situated  obliquely  to  your  right  when  you 
are  standing  in  the  passage. 

'  His  motive  was  enmity  ;  it  seems  as  if  he 
had  bought  something — taken  something — a 
paper.  He  went  away  from  home  at  daybreak, 
and  the  murder  was  committed  in  the  evening/ 

"  Miss  Olsen  was  then  awakened,  and  like  all 
my  subjects,  she  remembered  perfectly  what  she 
had  been  seeing,  which  had  made  a  very  profound 
impression  on  her  ;  she  added  several  things  which 
I  did  not  write  down. 

"  On  November  6th  (Monday)  I  met  Miss  Olsen, 
and  she  told  me  in  great  agitation  that  she  had 
met  the  murderer  from  Wissefjerda  in  the  street. 
He  was  accompanied  by  a  younger  person  and 
followed  by  two  policemen,  and  was  walking  from 
the  police  office  to  the  gaol.  I  at  once  expressed 
my  doubts  of  her  being  right,  partly  because 
country  people  are  generally  arrested  by  the 
country  police,  partly  because  they  are  always 
taken  directly  to  gaol.  But  when  she  insisted  on 
it,  and  maintained  that  it  was  the  person  she  had 
seen  when  asleep,  I  went  to  the  police  office. 

"  I  inquired  if  any  one  had  been  arrested  on 
suspicion  of  the  crime  in  question,  and  a  police- 
constable  answered  that  such  was  the  case,  and 
that,  as  they  had  been  taken  to  the  town  on 
Sunday,  they  had  been  kept  in  the  police-station 


132  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

over  night,  and  after  that  had  been"obliged  to  go 
on  foot  to  gaol,  accompanied  by  two  constables." 
(The  police-constable,  T.  A.  Ljung,  states  that 
Dr.  Backman  described  quite  :  accurately  the 
appearance  of  the  house,  its  furniture,  how  the 
rooms  were  situated,  where  the  suspected  man 
lived,  and  gave  a  very  correct  account  of  Niklas 
Jonnasson's  personal  appearance.  The  doctor 
also  asked  him  if  he  had  observed  that  Jonnasson 
had  a  scar  on  his  right  hand.  He  said  he  had 
not  then  observed  it,  but  ascertained  later  that  it 
really  was  so,  and  Jonnasson  said  that  he  got  it 
from  an  abscess). 

"  The  trial  was  a  long  one,  and  showed  that 
Gustafsson  had  agreed  to  buy  for  Jonnasson,  but 
in  his  own  name,  the  latter's  farm,  which  was 
sold  by  auction  on  account  of  Jonnasson's  debts. 
This  is  what  is  called  a  thief's  bargain.  Gustafsson 
bought  the  farm,  but  kept  it  for  himself.  The 
statements  of  the  accused  men  were  very  vague  ; 
the  father  had  prepared  an  alibi  with  much  care, 
but  it  failed  to  account  for  just  the  length  of 
time  that  was  probably  enough  to  commit  the 
murder  in.  The  son  tried  to  prove  an  alibi  by 
means  of  two  witnesses,  but  these  confessed  that 
they  had  given  false  evidence,  which  he  had  bribed 
them  to  do  when  they  were  in  prison  with  him  on 
account  of  another  matter. 

"  But  though  the  evidence  against  the  defen- 
dants was  very  strong,  it  was  not  considered  that 
there  was  sufficient  legal  evidence,  and,  there 
being  no  jury  in  Sweden,  they  were  left  to  the 
verdict  of  posterity/'  (pp.  213-216.) 


CLAIRVOYANCE  133 

A  Terrible  Vision  of  Torture  at  Sea. 

The  following  marvellous  story  of  a  vision 
reaches  me  from  Scotland.  The  Rev.  D.  McQueen 
writes  me  from  165,  Dalkeith-road,  Edinburgh, 
December  14th,  as  follows  :— 

"I  have  been  much  interested 'in  your  Ghost 
Stories.  I  wish  to  inform  you  of  one  I  have  heard, 
and  which  I  think  eclipses  in  interest,  minuteness 
of  detail,  and  tragical  pathos  anything  I  have 
ever  known,  and  which,  if  published  and  edited 
by  your  graphic  pen,  would  cause  a  sensation  in 
every  scientific  society  in  Great  Britain. 

"It  is  not  in  my  power  to  write  the  whole  story, 
as  it  is  nearly  sufficient  for  a  pamphlet  by  itself, 
but  its  accuracy  can  be  vouched  for  by  many  of 
the  most  respectable  and  intelligent  people  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Old  Cumnock.  I  heard  the 
story  some  years  ago,  and  would  have  written  you 
sooner,  only  I  wished  to  make  inquiries  as  to  the 
whereabouts  of  the  subject  of  the  remarkable 
vision. 

"About  twenty  years  ago  a  young  man  belong- 
ing to  Ayrshire  embarked  from  an  Australian  port 
to  re- visit  his  friends  in  this  country.  His  mother 
and  father  still  live.  The  former  saw  all  that 
befell  her  son  from  the  moment  he  set  foot  on 
the  deck  till  he  was  consigned  to  the  sea.  She 
can  describe  the  port  from  which  he  sailed,  the 
crew  of  the  ship,  his  fellow  passengers.  It  was  a 
weird  story,  for  her  son,  by  name  George,  was 
done  to  death  by  the  brutality  of  the  officers. 
This  was  partially  corroborated  by  a  passenger 
named  Gilmour,  who  called  on  her  after  his  arrival 


134  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

in  London.  When  he  entered  the  house  she  said, 
'  Why  did  you  allow  them  to  ill-use  my  son/  He 
started,  and  said,  '  Who  told  you  ?  '  She  related 
all  that  happened  during  the  weeks  her  son  was  ill, 
and  when  she  finished  her  guest  fainted.  Accord- 
ing to  her,  her  son  was  ill-used  from  the  time  he 
started  till  his  death.  For  example,  she  saw 
her  son  struck  by  a  ball  of  ropes,  as  she  said  (a 
cork  fender).  He  said  that  was  so.  She  saw  him 
put  into  a  strait  jacket  and  lowered  into  the  hold 
of  the  ship,  which  actually  took  place.  She  saw 
them  playing  cards  on  deck  and  putting  the  coun- 
ters into  her  son's  pocket,  which  were  actually 
found  in  his  clothes  when  they  came  back.  She 
can  describe  the  berth  her  son  occupied,  the 
various  parts  of  the  ship,  with  an  accuracy  that  is 
surprising  to  one  that  never  has  been  on  board 
ship.  And  last  of  all  she  tells  the  manner  of  his 
burial,  the  dress,  the  service  that  was  read,  the 
body  moving,  the  protest  of  one  passenger  that 
he  was  not  dead.  She  had  a  succession  of  trances 
by  day  and  night  which  are  unparalleled.  She 
saw  some  of  the  painful  scenes  in  church,  and  has 
been  known  to  cry  out  in  horror  and  agony.  If 
you  could  only  get  some  one  to  take  it  down  from 
her  own  lips — she  alone  can  tell  it — you  would 
make  a  narrative  that  would  thrill  the  heart  of 
every  reader  in  the  kingdom.  The  woman  is 
reliable.  She  is  the  wife  of  a  well-to-do  farmer. 
Her  name  is  Mrs.  Arthur,  Benston  Farm,  Old 

Cumnock. 

"  I  have  written  an  incoherent  letter,  as  I  am 

hurried  at  present,  but  I  hope  you  will  see  your 


CLAIRVOYANCE  135 

way  to  investigate  it.  I  say  again,  I  have  never 
heard  so  weird  and  true  a  tale.  But  get  the  lady 
to  tell  her  own  story.  It  is  wonderful !  wonder- 
ful !  " 

On  January  9th,  1892,  the  Rev.  A.  Macdonald, 
of  the  U.P.  Manse,  Old  Cumnock,  wrote  to  me 
as  follows  : — 

"  I  have  much  pleasure  in  replying  to  the  ques- 
tions you  put  to  me,  whether  I  am  aware  of  the 
clairvoyant  experiences  of  Mrs.  Arthur  (Benston, 
New  Cumnock),  and  whether  I  consider  her  a  re- 
liable witness. 

"It  is  many  years  since  I  heard  Mrs.  Arthur 
relate  her  strange  visions,  and  there  are  other 
friends,  beside  myself,  who  have  heard  the  same 
narrative  from  her  own  lips. 

"Mrs.  Arthur,  I  hold,  is  incapable  of  inventing 
the  story  which  she  tells,  for  she  is  a  truthful, 
conscientious,  and  Christian  woman.  She  herself 
believes  in  the  reality  of  the  vision  as  firmly  as 
she  believes  in  her  own  existence.  The  death 
of  her  son  on  his  way  back  from  Australia  was  the 
cause  of  a  sorrow  too  deep  for  the  mother  to  weave 
such  a  romance  around  it.  Further,  her  state- 
ments are  not  the  accretions  of  after  years,  but 
were  told,  and  told  freely,  at  the  time  when  her 
son  was  known  to  have  died.  This  is  about  twenty 
years  ago.  During  these  twenty  years  she  has  not 
varied  in  her  statements,  and  repeats  them  still 
with  all  the  faith  and  with  all  the  circumstantial 
details  of  the  first  narration. 

"I  consider  her  vision — extending  as  it  does  from 
the  time  the  homeward-bound  vessel  left  the 


136  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

harbour,  over  many  days,  until  the  burial  of  her 
son's  body  at  sea — worthy  of  a  place  alongside 
the  best  of  the  Ghost  Stories  you  have  given 
to  the  world." 

Mr.  Arthur,  the  son  of  the  percipient  in  this 
strange  story,  wrote  to  me  as  follows  from  L,och- 
side,  New  Cumnock,  Ayrshire,  on  the  14th  Jan- 
uary, 1892  :- 

"  My  mother,  Mrs.  Arthur,  of  Benston,  New 
Cumnock,  Ayrshire,  received  your  valued  favour  of 
8th  inst.,  together  with  a  copy  of  the  Christmas 
Number  of  the  Review  of  Reviews.  The  circum- 
stances you  refer  to  happened  twenty-one  years 
ago,  a  short  account  of  which  appeared  in  a  Scotch 
paper,  and  a  much  fuller  one  appeared  in  an 
Australian  paper,  but,  unfortunately,  no  copy 
has  been  preserved,  even  the  diary  in  which  the 
particulars  were  written  has  been  destroyed. 

"  It  would  not  serve  any  good  purpose  for  you  to 
send  a  shorthand  writer  to  interview  my  mother, 
as  she  is  approaching  fourscore  years,  and  her 
memory  is  rapidly  failing.  I  believe  I  can  get  a 
very  full  account  (barring  minutia)  from  a  younger 
brother.  But  if  the  young  man  who  was  a  fellow- 
passenger  with  my  brother  (when  my  brother 
died  at  sea  off  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope)  is  still 
alive,  he  is  the  proper  party  to  give  a  full  and 
minute  account.  He  was  the  party  who  informed 
my  parents  of  my  brother's  death.  My  mother 
lost  no  time  in  visiting  him  for  particulars.  I 
think  the  young  man's  name  was  Gilmour.  He 
was  then  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Edinburgh. 
When  he  began  to  narrate  what  had  taken  place, 


CLAIRVOYANCE  137 

my  mother  stopped  him  and  asked  him  to  listen 
to  her.  She  then  went  on  to  say  that  on  a  certain 
date,  while  she  was  about  her  usual  household 
duties,  her  son  came  into  the  room  where  she  was, 
said  so  and  so  and  so  and  so,  and  walked  out.  Mr. 
Gilmour  said  that  what  she  had  said  was  exactly 
what  had  occurred  during  his  illness,  and  the  date 
he  had  visited  her  was  the  day  of  his  death. 

"  I  was  at  this  time  living  in  Belize,  British 
Honduras.  On  my  mentioning  this  circumstance 
to  some  of  my  friends  there,  Mr.  Cockburn,  who 
was  Police  Magistrate  in  Belize,  said  that  his 
daughter,  Miss  Cockburn,  had  a  similar  experience. 
He  lived  at  that  time  in  Grenada,  and  Miss  Cock- 
burn  was  at  school  in  England.  One  day  she  was 
out  walking  with  the  other  school  girls  ;  suddenly 
she  saw  her  mother  walking  along  the  street  in 
front  of  her.  Miss  C.  ran  off  to  speak  to  her,  but 
before  she  caught  her  up,  her  mother  turned  down  a 
side  street.  When  the  daughter  reached  the 
corner  the  mother  was  nowhere  to  be  seen.  Miss 
Cockburn  wrote  to  her  mother,  telling  her  what 
she  had  seen,  by  the  outgoing  mail.  Her  letter 
crossed  one  from  her  father,  telling  her  that  her 
mother  had  died  that  day." 

Clairvoyance  is  closely  related  to  the  phenomen- 
on of  the  Double,  for  the  clairvoyant  seems  to  have 
either  the  faculty  of  transporting  herself  to  dis- 
tant places,  or  of  bringing  the  places  within  range 
of  her  sight.  Here  is  a  narrative  sent  me  by  Mr. 
Masey,  Fellow  of  the  Geological  Society,  writing  to 
me  from  8,  Gloucester  Road,  Kew,  which  illus- 
trates the  connection  between  clairvoyance  and 


138  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

"  Mrs.  Mary  Masey,  who  resided  on  RedclifTe 
Hill,  Bristol,  at  the  beginning  of  this  century,  was 
a  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  and  was  held 
in  high  esteem  for  piety. 

"  A  memorable  incident  in  her  life  was  that  one 
night  she  dreamt  that  a  Mr.  John  Henderson,  a 
noted  man  of  the  same  community,  had  gone  to 
Oxford,  and  that  he  had  died  there.  In  the  course 
of  the  next  day,  Mr.  Henderson  called  to  take 
leave  of  her,  saying  he  was  going  to  Oxford  to 
study  a  subject  concerning  which  he  could  not 
obtain  the  information  he  wanted  in  Bristol. 
Mrs.  Masey  said  to  him,  '  John  Henderson,  thou 
wilt  die  there/ 

"  Some  time  afterwards,  Mrs.  Masey  woke  her 
husband  one  night,  saying,  '  Remember,  John 
Henderson  died  at  Oxford  at  two  o'clock  this 
morning,  and  it  is  now  three/  Her  husband, 
Philip  Masey,  made  light  of  it ;  but  she  told  him 
that  while  asleep  she  had  been  transported  to 
Oxford,  where  she  had  never  been  before,  and 
that  she  had  entered  a  room  there,  in  which  she 
saw  Mr.  John  Henderson  in  bed,  the  landlady 
supporting  his  head,  and  the  landlord  with  several 
other  persons  standing  around.  While  gazing  at 
him  some  one  gave  him  medicine,  and  the  patient, 
turning  round,  perceived  her,  and  exclaimed,  '  Oh, 
Mrs.  Masey,  I  am  going  to  die  ;  I  am  so  glad  you 
are  come,  for  I  want  to  tell  you  that  my  father 
is  going  to  be  very  ill,  and  you  must  go  and  see 
him/  He  then  proceeded  to  describe  a  room  in  his 
father's  house,  and  a  bureau  in  it,  '  in  which  is  a 
box  containing  a  remedy  ;  give  it  him,  and  he  will 


CLAIRVOYANCE  139 

recover/  Her  impression  and  recollection  of  all 
the  persons  in  the  room  at  Oxford  was  most 
vivid,  and  she  even  described  the  appearance 
of  the  house  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  street. 
The  only  person  she  appeared  not  to  have  seen  in 
the  room  was  a  clergyman  who  was  present.  The 
husband  of  Mrs.  Masey  accompanied  Mr.  Hender- 
son's father  to  the  funeral,  and  on  their  journey 
from  Bristol  to  Oxford  by  coach  (the  period  being 
before  railways  and  telegraphs  existed),  Mr.  Philip 
Masey  related  to  him  the  particulars  of  his  son's 
death,  as  described  by  his  wife,  which,  on  arrival, 
they  found  to  have  been  exactly  as  told  by  Mrs. 
Masey. 

"  Mrs.  Masey  was  so  much  concerned  about  the 
death  of  Mr.  Henderson,  jun.,  that  she  forgot  all 
about  the  directions  he  had  given  her  respecting 
the  approaching  illness  of  his  father,  but  some 
time  afterwards  she  was  sent  for  by  the  father, 
who  was  very  ill.  She  then  remembered  the 
directions  given  her  by  the  son  on  his  death-bed 
at  Oxford.  She  immediately  proceeded  to  the 
residence  of  Mr.  Henderson,  and  on  arrival  at  the 
house  she  found  the  room,  the  bureau,  the  box, 
and  the  medicine  exactly  as  had  been  foretold 
to  her.  She  administered  the  remedy  as  directed, 
and  had  the  pleasure  of  witnessing  the  beneficial 
effect  by  the  complete  recovery  of  Mr.  Henderson 
from  a  serious  illness." 

Here  we  have  almost  every  variety  of  psychic 
experience.  First  of  all  there  is  second  sight  pure 
and  simple  ;  second,  there  is  the  aerial  journey  of 
the  Double,  with  the  memory  of  everything  that 


140  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

had  been  seen  and  heard  at  the  scene  which  it 
had  witnessed  ;  third,  there  is  communication  of 
information  which  at  that  moment  was  not  known 
to  the  percipient ;  fourth,  we  have  another  pre- 
diction ;  and  finally,  we  have  a  complete  verifi- 
cation and  fulfilment  of  everything  that  was 
witnessed.  It  is  idle  to  attempt  to  prove  the 
accuracy  of  statements  made  concerning  one  who 
has  been  dead  nearly  a  hundred  years,  but  the 
vStory,  although  possessing  no  evidential  value, 
is  interesting  as  an  almost  unique  specimen  of  the 
comprehensive  and  complicated  prophetic  ghost 
and  clairvoyant  story. 

These  facts,  which  are  well  accredited,  would 
seem  to  show  that  in  the  book  of  Job  Elihu  was 
not  far  wrong  when  he  said,  "In  slumberings 
upon  the  bed  God  openeth  the  ears  of  men  and 
sealeth  their  destruction/'  Or,  to  quote  from  an 
author  who  uses  more  modern  dialect,  it  justifies 
Abercromby's  remark  that  "  the  subject  of  dream- 
ing appears  to  be  worthy  of  careful  investigation, 
and  there  is  much  reason  to  believe  that  an 
extensive  collection  of  authentic  facts,  carefully 
analysed,  would  unfold  principles  of  very  great 
interest  in  reference  to  the  philosophy  of  the 
mental  powers/5 

Clairvoyance  is  a  gift,  and  a  comparatively  rare 
gift.  It  is  a  gift  which  requires  to  be  much  more 
carefully  studied  and  scientifically  examined  than 
it  has  been  hitherto.  It  is  a  by-path  to  many 
secrets.  It  may  hold  in  it  the  clue  to  the  acquisi- 
tion of  great  faculties,  hitherto  regarded  as  for- 
bidden to  mere  mortals. 


CHAPTER  III. 
MY  OWN  EXPERIENCE. 

IT  is  difficult  for  those  who  are  not  clairvoyant 
to  understand  what  those  who  are  clairvoyant  des- 
cribe, often  with  the  most  extraordinary  precision 
and  detail.  Unfortunately  for  myself  I  am  not  a 
clairvoyant,  but  on  one  occasion  I  had  an  ex- 
perience which  enabled  me  to  understand  some- 
thing of  clairvoyant  vision.  I  had  been  working 
late  at  night,  and  had  gone  to  bed  at  about  two 
o'clock  in  the  morning  somewhat  tired,  having 
spent  several  hours  in  preparing  "  Real  Ghost 
Stories  "  for  the  press.  I  got  into  bed,  but  was 
not  able  to  go  to  sleep,  as  usual,  as  soon  as  my 
head  touched  the  pillow.  I  suppose  my  mind  had 
been  too  much  excited  by  hard  work  right  up  to  the 
moment  of  going  to  bed  for  me  readily  to  go  to 
sleep.  I  shut  my  eyes  and  waited  for  sleep  to  come; 
instead  of  sleep,  however,  there  came  to  me  a 
succession  of  curiously  vivid  clairvoyant  pictures. 
There  was  no  light  in  the  room,  and  it  was  per- 
fectly dark  ;  I  had  my  eyes  shut  also.  But,  not- 
withstanding the  darkness,  I  suddenly  was  con- 
scious of  looking  at  a  scene  of  singular  beauty. 
It  was  as  if  I  saw  a  living  miniature  about  the  size 
of  a  magic-lantern  slide.  At  this  moment  I  can 
recall  the  scene  as  if  I  saw  it  again.  It  was  a 
seaside  piece.  The  moon  was  shining  upon  the 
water,  which  rippled  slowly  on  to  the  beach. 


142  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

Right  before  me  a  long  mole  ran  out  into  the 
water.  On  either  side  of  the  mole  irregular  rocks 
stood  up  above  the  sea-level.  On  the  shore  stood 
several  houses,  square  and  rude,  which  resembled 
nothing  that  I  had  ever  seen  in  house  architecture. 
No  one  was  stirring,  but  the  moon  was  there,  and 
the  sea  and  the  gleam  of  the  moonlight  on  the 
rippling  waters  was  just  as  if  I  had  been  looking 
out  upon  the  actual  scene.  It  was  so  beautiful 
that  I  remember  thinking  that  if  it  continued  I 
should  be  so  interested  in  looking  at  it  that  I 
should  never  go  to  sleep.  I  was  wide  awake,  and 
at  the  same  time  that  I  saw  the  scene  I  distinctly 
heard  the  dripping  of  the  rain  outside  the  window. 
Then  suddenly,  without  any  apparent  object  or 
reason,  the  scene  changed.  The  moonlit  sea 
vanished,  and  in  its  place  I  was  looking  right 
into  the  interior  of  a  reading-room.  It  seemed 
as  if  it  had  been  used  as  a  schoolroom  in  the  day- 
time and  was  employed  as  a  reading-room  in  the 
evening.  I  remember  seeing  one  reader,  who  had 
a  curious  resemblance  to  Tim  Harrington,  although 
it  was  not  he,  hold  up  a  magazine  or  book  in  his 
hand  and  laugh.  It  was  not  a  picture — it  was 
there.  The  scene  was  just  as  if  you  were  looking 
through  an  opera-glass  ;  you  saw  the  play  of  the 
muscles,  the  gleaming  of  the  eye,  every  movement 
of  the  unknown  persons  in  the  unnamed  place  into 
which  you  were  gazing.  I  saw  all  that  without 
opening  my  eyes,  nor  did  my  eyes  have  anything 
to  do  with  it.  You  see  such  things  as  these,  as 
it  were,  with  another  sense,  which  is  more  inside 
your  head  than  in  your  eyes.  This  was  a  very  poor 


CLAIRVOYANCE  143 

and  paltry  experience,  but  it  enabled  me  to  under- 
stand better  than  any  amount  ot  disquisition 
how  it  is  that  clairvoyants  see  The  pictures 
were  apropos  of  nothing  ;  they  had  been  sug- 
gested by  nothing  I  had  been  reading  or  talking  of, 
they  simply  came  as  if  I  had  been  able  to  look 
through  a  glass  at  what  was  occurring  somewhere 
else  in  the  world.  I  had  my  peep  and  then  it 
passed,  nor  have  I  had  a  recurrence  of  a  similar 
experience. 

Crystal-Gazing. 

Crystal-gazing  is  somewhat  akin  to  clairvoy- 
ance. There  are  some  people  who  cannot  look 
into  an  ordinary  globular  bottle  without  seeing 
pictures  form  themselves,  without  any  effort  or 
will  on  their  part,  in  the  crystal  globe.  This  is  an 
experience  which  I  have  never  been  able  to  enjoy. 
But  I  have  seen  crystal-gazing  going  on  at  a  table 
at  which  I  have  been  sitting  on  one  or  two  occa- 
sions with  rather  remarkable  results.  The  ex- 
periences of  Miss  X.  in  crystal-gazing  have  been 
told  at  length  and  in  detail  in  the  "  Proceedings 
of  the  Psychical  Research  Society."  On  looking 
into  the  crystal  on  two  occasions  as  a  test,  to  see 
if  she  could  see  me  when  she  was  several  miles 
off,  she  saw,  not  me,  but  a  different  friend  of  mine 
on  each  occasion,  whom  she  had  never  seen,  but 
whom  she  immediately  identified  on  seeing  them 
afterwards  at  my  office. 

Crystal-gazing  seems  to  be  the  least  dangerous 
and  most  simple  of  all  methods  of  experimenting. 
You  simply  look  into  a  crystal  globe  the  size  of  a 
five-shilling  piece,  or  a  water-bottle  which  is  full 


144  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

of  clear  water,  and  is  placed  so  that  too  much  light 
does  not  fall  upon  it,  and  then  simply  look  at  it. 
You  make  no  incantations  and  engage  in  no 
mumbo- jumbo  business  ;  you  simply  look  at  it 
for  two  or  three  minutes,  taking  care  not  to  tire 
yourself,  winking  as  much  as  you  please,  but 
fixing  your  thought  upon  whoever  it  is  you  wish 
to  see.  Then,  if  you  have  the  faculty,  the  glass 
will  cloud  over  with  a  milky  mist,  and  in  the  centre 
the  image  is  gradually  precipitated  in  just  the 
same  way  as  a  photograph  forms  on  the  sensitive 
plate.  At  least,  the  description  given  by  crystal- 
gazers  as  to  the  way  in  which  the  picture  appears 
reminded  me  of  nothing  so  much  as  what  I  saw 
when  I  stood  inside  the  largest  camera  in  the  world, 
in  which  the  Ordnance  Survey  photographs  its 
maps  at  Southampton. 


PART   IV. 

PREMONITIONS  AND  SECOND  SIGHT. 


"  But  there  are  many  such  things  in  Nature,  though  we  have  not 
the  right  key  to  them.  We  all  walk  in  mysteries.  We  are  surround- 
ed by  an  atmosphere  of  which  we  do  not  know  what  is  stirring  in  it, 
or  how  it  is  connected  with  our  own  spirit.  So  much  is  certain — that 
in  particular  cases  we  can  put  out  the  feelers  of  our  soul  beyond  its 
bodily  limits,  and  that  a  presentiment,  nay,  an  actual  insight  into,  the 
immediate  future  is  accorded  to  it." — Goethe's  "Conversations  with 
IJckermann." 


CHAPTER   I. 
MY  OWN  EXTRAORDINARY  PREMONITIONS. 

IF  clairvoyance  partakes  of  the  nature  of  the 
camera  obscura,  by  which  persons  can  see  at  a 
distance  that  which  is  going  on  beyond  the  direct 
range  of  their  vision,  it  is  less  easy  to  suggest  aa^ 
analogy  to  explain  the  phenomena  of  premonition 
or  second  sight.  Although  I  have  never  seen  a 
ghost — for  none  of  my  hallucinations  are  scenic — 
I  may  fairly  claim  to  have  a  place  in  this  census 
on  the  ground  of  the  extraordinary  premonitions 
I  have  had  at  various  times  of  coming  events. 
The  second  sight  of  the  Highlander  is  always 
scenic  ;  he  does  not  hear  so  much  as  he  sees.  If 
death  is  foreshadowed,  the  circumstances  preced- 

J 


146  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

ing  and  following  the  event  pass  as  in  dramatic 
scene  before  the  eyes  of  the  seer.  It  is  much  as  if 
the  seers  had  access  to  a  camera  obscura  which 
enabled  them  not  only  to  see  that  which  was 
occurring  at  the  same  moment  in  various  parts  of 
the  world,  but  in  its  magic  mirror  could  reflect 
events  which  have  not  yet  been  as  if  they  were 
already  existent. 

The  phenomena  of  premonition,  combined  with 
the  faculties  of  clairvoyance  by  which  the  per- 
cipient is  able  to  reproduce  the  past,  make  a  great 
breach  in  our  conceptions  of  both  time  and  space. 
To  the  Deity,  in  the  familiar  line  of  the  hymn, 
"  future  things  unfolded  lie  "  ;  but  from  time  to 
time  future  things,  sometimes  most  trivial,  some- 
times most  important,  are  unfolded  to  the  eye 
of  mortal  man.  Why  or  how  one  does  not  know. 
All  that  he  can  say  is  that  the  vision  came  and 
went  in  obedience  to  some  power  over  which  he 
had  no  conscious  control.  The  faculty  of  fore- 
seeing, which  in  its  higher  forms  constitutes  no 
small  part  of  a  prophet's  power,  is  said  to  exist 
among  certain  families,  and  to  vary  according  to 
the  locality  in  which  they  are  living.  Men  who 
have  second  sight  in  Skye  are  said  to  lose  it  on  the 
mainland.  But  residence  in  Skye  itself  is  not 
sufficient  to  give  the  Englishman  the  faculty  once 
said  to  be  possessed  by  its  natives.  In  England  it 
is  rare,  and  when  it  exists  it  is  often  mixed  up  with 
curious  and  somewhat  bewildering  superstitions, 
signs  and  omens  portending  death  and  disaster, 
which  can][hardly  be  regarded  as  being  more  than 
seventh  cousins  of  the  true  faculty. 


PREMONITIONS  AND  SECOND  SIGHT       147 

I  can  make  no  claim  to  the  proud  prerogative  of 
the  seer,  but  upon  several  occasions  I  have  had 
some  extraordinary  premonitions  of  what  was 
about  to  happen.  I  can  give  no  explanation  as 
to  how  they  came,  all  that  I  know  is  they  arrived, 
and  when  they  arrived  I  recognised  them  beyond 
all  possibility  of  mistake.  I  have  had  three  or  four 
very  striking  and  vivid  premonitions  in  my  life 
which  have  been  fulfilled  to  the  letter.  I  have 
others  which  await  fulfilment.  Of  the  latter  I  will 
not  speak  here — although  I  have  them  duly 
recorded — for  were  I  to  do  so  I  should  be  accused 
of  being  party  to  bringing  about  the  fulfilment  of 
my  own  predictions.  Those  which  have  already 
been  fulfilled,  although  of  no  general  importance 
to  any  one  else,  were  of  considerable  importance 
to  me,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  brief  outline  con- 
cerning three  of  them. 

Leaving  Darlington  Fore-seen. 

The  first  occasion  on  which  I  had  an  abso- 
lutely unmistakable  intimation  of  the  change 
about  to  occur  in  my  own  circumstances  was  in 
1880,  the  year  in  which  I  left  the  editorship  of  the 
Northern  Echo  to  become  the  assistant  of  Mr.  John 
Morley*  on  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette. 

On  New  Year's  Day,  1880,  it  was  forcibly  im- 
pressed upon  my  mind  that  I  was  to  leave  Darling- 
ton in  the  course  of  that  year.  I  remember  on  the 
1st  of  January  meeting  a  journalistic  confrere 
on  my  way  from  Darlington  station  to  the  Northern 
Echo  office.  After  wishing  him  a  Happy  New  Year, 
I  said,  "  This  is  the  last  New  Year's  Day  I  shall 

*  Now  I<ord  Morley. 


148  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

ever  spend  in  Darlington ;  I  shall  leave  the 
Northern  Echo  this  year/'  My  friend  looked  at 
me  in  some  amazement,  and  said,  "  And  where 
are  you  going  to  ?  '  '  To  London,"  I  replied, 
'  because  it  is  the  only  place  which  could  tempt 
me  from  my  present  position,  which  is  very  com- 
fortable, and  where  I  have  perfect  freedom  to  say 
my  say/'  "  But,"  said  my  friend,  somewhat 
dubiously,  "  what  paper  are  you  going  to  ?  ' 
"  I  have  no  idea  in  the  world/'  I  said  ;  "  neither 
do  I  know  a  single  London  paper  which  would 
offer  me  a  position  on  their  staff  of  any  kind, 
let  alone  one  on  which  I  would  have  any  liberty 
of  utterance.  I  see  no  prospect  of  any  opening 
anywhere.  But  I  know  for  certain  that  before  the 
year  is  out  I  shall  be  on  the  staff  of  a  Condon 
paper/'  "  Come,"  said  my  friend,  "  this  is  super- 
stition, and  with  a  wife  and  family  I  hope  you  will 
do  nothing  rashly."  "  You  need  not  fear  as  to 
that/'  I  said  ;  "  I  shall  not  seek  any  position  else- 
where, it  will  have  to  come  to  me  if  I  have  to  go 
to  it.  I  am  not  going  to  throw  myself  out  of  a 
berth  until  I  know  where  my  next  place  is  to  be. 
Humanly  speaking,  I  see  no  chance  of  my  leaving 
Darlington,  yet  I  have  no  more  doubt  than  of  my 
own  existence  that  I  shall  be  gone  by  this  time 
next  year."  We  parted. 

The  General  Election  soon  came  upon  us,  and 
when  the  time  came  for  renewing  my  engagement 
on  the  Northern  Echo,  I  had  no  option  but  to 
renew  my  contract  and  bind  myself  to  remain  at 
Darlington  until  July,  1880.  Although  I  signed 
the  contract,  when  the  day  arrived  on  which  I 


PREMONITIONS  AND  SECOND  SIGHT       149 

had  either  to  give  notice  or  renew  my  engagement, 
I  could  not  shake  from  me  the  conviction  that  I 
was  destined  to  leave  Darlington  at  least  six 
months  before  my  engagement  expired.  At  that 
time  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette  was  edited  by  Mr. 
Greenwood,  and  was,  of  all  the  papers  in  the  land, 
the  most  antipathetic  to  the  principles  upon  which 
I  had  conducted  the  Northern  Echo. 

The  possibility  of  my  becoming  assistant  editor 
to  the  editor  of  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette  seemed  at 
that  time  about  as  remote  as  that  of  the  Moderator 
of  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland  receiving  a  car- 
dinal's hat  from  the  Pope  of  Rome.  Nevertheless, 
no  sooner  had  Mr.  Gladstone  been  seated  in  power 
than  Mr.  George  Smith  handed  over  the  Pall  Mall 
Gazette  to  his  son-in-law,  Mr.  Henry  Yates  Thomp- 
son. Mr.  Greenwood  departed  to  found  and  edit 
the  St.  James'  Gazette,  and  Mr.  Morley  became 
editor.  Even  then  I  never  dreamed  of  going  to  the 
Pall  Mall.  Two  other  North-country  editors  and 
I,  thinking  that  Mr.  Morley  was  left  in  rather  a 
difficulty  by  the  secession  of  several  of  the  Pall 
Mall  staff,  agreed  to  send  up  occasional  contri- 
butions solely  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  Mr. 
Morley  to  get  through  the  temporary  difficulty  in 
which  he  was  placed  by  being  suddenly  summoned 
to  edit  a  daily  paper  under  such  circumstances.- 

Midsummer  had  hardly  passed  before  Mr. 
Thompson  came  down  to  Darlington  and  offered 
me  the  assistant  editorship.  The  proprietor  of  the 
Northern  Echo  kindly  waived  his  right  to  my  ser- 
vices in  deference  to  the  request  of  Mr.  Morley. 
As  a  result  I  left  the  Northern  Echo  in  September, 


150  RKAiv  GHOST  STORIES 


• 


1880,  and  my  presentiment  was  fulfilled.  At  the 
time  when  it  was  first  impressed  upon  my  mind, 
no  living  being  probably  anticipated  the  possi- 
bility of  such  a  change  occurring  in  the  Pall  Mall 
Gazette  as  would  render  it  possible  for  me  to  be- 
come assistant  editor,  so  that  the  presentiment 
could  in  no  way  have  been  due  to  any  possible 
calculation  of  chances  on  my  part. 

The  Editorship  of  the  "  Pall  Mall  Gazette." 

The  second  presentiment  to  which  I  shall  refer 
was  also  connected  with  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette. 
and  was  equally  clear  and  without  any  suggestion 
from  outward  circumstances.  It  was  in  October, 
1883.  My  wife  and  I  were  spending  a  brief  holiday 
in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  and  I  remember  that  the 
great  troopers,  which  had  just  brought  back  Lord 
Wolseley's  army  from  the  first  Egyptian  cam- 
paign, were  lying  in  the  Solent  when  we  crossed. 
One  morning  about  noon  we  were  walking  in  the 
drizzling  rain  round  St.  Catherine's  Point.  It 
was  a  miserable  day,  the  ground  slippery  and  the 
footpath  here  and  there  rather  difficult  to  follow. 
Just  as  we  were  at  about  the  ugliest  part  of  our 
climb  I  felt  distinctly,  as  it  were,  a  voice  within 
myself  saying.  You  will  have  to  look  sharp  and 
make  ready,  because  by  a  certain  date  (which  as 
near  as  I  can  recollect  was  the  16th  of  March  next 
year)  you  will  have  sole  charge  of  the  Pall  Mall 
Gazette. 

I  was  just  a  little  startled  and  rather  awed 
because,  as  Mr.  Morley  was  then  in  full  command 


PREMONITIONS  AND  SECOND  SIGHT       151 

and  there  was  no  expectation  on  his  part  of  aban- 
doning his  post,  the  inference  which  I  immediately 
drew  was  that  he  was  going  to  die.  So  firmly  was 
this  impressed  upon  my  mind  that  for  two  hours  I 
did  not  like  to  speak  about  it  to  my  wife.  We 
took  shelter  for  a  time  from  the  rain,  but  after- 
wards, on  going  home,  I  spoke  on  the  subject 
which  filled  me  with  sadness,  not  without  reluc- 
tance, and  said  to  my  wife,  "  Something  has 
happened  to  me  which  has  made  a  great  impression 
upon  my  mind.  When  we  were  beside  St.  Cather- 
ine's Lighthouse  I  got  into  my  head  that  Mr. 
Morley  was  going  to  die."  "  Nonsense,"  she  said, 
'  what  made  you  think  that  ?  ';  "  Only  this," 
said  I,  "  that  I  received  an  intimation  as  clear 
and  unmistakable  as  that  which  I  had  when  I  was 
going  to  leave  Darlington,  that  I  had  to  look  sharp 
and  prepare  for  taking  the  so1e  charge  of  the  Pall 
Mall  Gazette  on  March  16th  next.  That  is  all,  and 
I  do  not  see  how  that  is  likely  to  happen  unless  Mr. 
Morley  is  going  to  die."  "  Nonsense,"  said  my 
wife,  "he  is  not  going  to  die  ;  he  is  going  to  get 
into  Parliament,  that  is  what  is  going  to  happen." 
'  Well,"  said  I,  "  that  may  be.  Whether  he  dies 
or  whether  he  gets  into  Parliament,  the  one  thing 
certain  to  me  is  that  I  shall  have  sole  charge  of  the 
Pall  Mall  Gazette  next  year,  and  I  am  so  convinced 
of  that  that  when  we  return  to  London  I  shall 
make  all  my  plans  on  the  basis  of  that  certainty." 
And  so  I  did.  I  do  not  hedge  and  hesitate  at 
burning  my  boats. 

As  soon  as  I  arrived  at  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette 
office,   I   announced  to  Mr.   Thompson,   to  Mr. 


152  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

Morley,  and  to  Mr.  Milner,*  who  was  then  on  the 
staff,  that  Mr.  Morley  was  going  to  be  in  Parlia- 
ment before  March  next  year,  for  I  need  hardly 
say  that  I  never  mentioned  my  first  sinister 
intimation.  I  told  Mr.  Morley  and  the  others 
exactly  what  had  happened,  namely,  that  I  had 
received  notice  to  be  ready  to  take  sole  charge  of 
the  Pall  Mall  Gazette  by  March  16th  next.  They 
shrugged  their  shoulders,  and  Mr.  Morley  scouted 
the  idea.  He  said  he  had  almost  given  up  the  idea 
of  entering  Parliament,  all  preceding  negotiations 
had  fallen  through,  and  he  had  come  to  the  con- 
clusion that  he  would  stick  to  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette. 
I  said  that  he  might  come  to  what  conclusion  he 
liked,  the  fact  remained  that  he  was  going  to  go. 

I  remember  having  a  talk  at  the  time  with  Mr. 
Milner  about  it.  I  remarked  that  the  worst  of 
people  having  premonitions  is  that  they  carefully 
hide  up  their  prophecies  until  after  the  event,  and 
then  no  one  believed  in  them.  "  This  time  no  one 
shall  have  the  least  doubt  as  to  the  fact  that  I  have 
had  my  premonition  well  in  advance  of  the  fact. 
It  is  now  October.  I  have  told  everybody  whom  it 
concerns  whom  I  know.  If  it  happens  not  to  come 
to  pass  I  will  never  have  faith  in  my  premonitions 
any  more,  and  you  may  chaff  me  as  much  as  you 
please  as  to  the  superstition.  But  if  it  turns  up 
trumps,  then  please  remember  that  I  have  played 
doubles  or  quits  and  won." 

Nobody  at  the  office  paid  much  attention  to  my 
vision,  and  a  couple  of  months  later  Mr.  Morley 
came  to  consult  me  as  to  some  slight  change  which 
he  proposed  to  make  in  the  terms  of  his  engage- 

*  Now  Lord  Milner. 


PREMONITIONS  AND  SECOND  SIGHT       153 

ment  which  he  was  renewing  for  another  year. 
As  this  change  affected  me  slightly  he  came,  with 
that  courtesy  and  consideration  which  he  always 
displayed  in  his  dealings  with  his  staff,  to  ask 
whether  I  should  have  any  objection  to  this  alter- 
ation. As  he  was  beginning  to  explain  what  this 
alteration  would  be  I  interrupted  him.  "  Excuse 
me,  Mr.  Morley,"  said  I,  "  when  will  this  new 
arrangement  come  into  effect  ?  ':  "  In  May,  I 
think,"  was  the  reply.  "Then,"  said  I,  "you 
do  not  need  to  discuss  it  with  me.  I  shall  have 
sole  charge  of  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette  before  that 
time.  You  will  not  be  here  then,  you  will  be  in 
Parliament."  "  But,"  said  Mr.  Morley,  "  that  is 
only  your  idea.  What  I  want  to  know  is  whether 
you  agree  to  the  changes  which  I  propose  to  make 
and  which  will  somewhat  affect  your  work  in  the 
office  ?  '  M  But,"  I  replied,  "  it  is  no  use  talking 
about  that  matter  to  me.  You  will  not  be  here, 
and  I  shall  be  carrying  on  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette  ; 
then  what  is  the  use  of  talking  about  it."  Then 
Mr.  Morley  lifted  his  chin  slightly  in  the  air, 
and  looking  at  me  with  somewhat  natural  disdain, 
he  asked,  "  And,  pray,  do  you  mean  to  tell  me  that 
I  have  not  to  make  a  business  arrangement  be- 
cause you  have  had  a  vision  ?  '  "  Not  at  all, 
said  I ;  "  you,  of  course,  will  make  what  business 
arrangements  you  please, — I  cannot  expect  you 
to  govern  your  conduct  by  my  vision ; — but  as  I 
shall  have  charge  of  the  paper  it  is  no  use  discussing 
the  question  with  me.  You  can  make  what  ar- 
rangements you  please  so  far  as  I  am  concerned. 
They  are  so  much  waste  paper.  I  ask  you  nothing 


154  REAiy  GHOST  SOTRIES 

about  the  arrangement,  because  I  know  it  will 
never  come  into  effect  so  far  as  relates  to  my 
work  on  the  paper."  Finding  that  I  was  im- 
practicable, Mr.  Morley  left  and  concluded  his 
arrangement  without  consultation.  One  month 
later  Mr.  Ashton  Dilke  sickened  with  his  fatal 
illness,  and  Mr.  Morley  was  elected  on  February 
24th,  1884,  as  Liberal  candidate  for  Newcastle-on- 
Tyne.  J  remember  that  when  the  news  came  to 
Northumberland  Street,  the  first  remark  which 
Mr.  Thompson  made  was,  "  Well,  Stead's  presen- 
timent is  coming  right  after  all." 

I  remember  all  through  that  contest,  when  the 
issue  was  for  some  time  somewhat  in  doubt,  feeling 
quite  certain  that  if  Mr.  Morley  did  not  get  in  he 
would  die,  or  he  would  find  some  other  constitu- 
ency. I  had  no  vision  as  to  the  success  of  his 
candidature  at  Newcastle.  The  one  thing  certain 
was  that  I  was  to  have  charge  of  the  paper,  and 
that  he  was  to  be  out  of  it.  When  he  was  elected 
the  question  came  as  to  what  should  be  done  ? 
The  control  of  the  paper  passed  almost  entirely 
into  my  hands  at  once,  and  Mr.  Morley  would  have 
left  altogether  on  the  day  mentioned  in  my  vision, 
had  not  Mr.  Thompson  kindly  interfered  to  secure 
me  a  holiday  before  saddling  me  with  the  sole 
responsibility.  Mr.  Morley,  therefore,  remained 
till  midsummer  ;  but  his  connection  with  the 
paper  was  very  slight,  parliamentary  duties,  as 
he  understood  them,  being  incompatible  with 
close  day-to-day  editing  of  an  evening  paper. 

Here,  again,  it  could  not  possibly  have  been 
said  that  my  premonition  had  any  share  in  bringing 


PREMONITIONS  AND  SECOND  SIGHT       155 

about  its  realisation.  It  was  not  known  by  Mr. 
Ashton  Dilke's  most  intimate  friends  in  October 
that  he  would  not  be  able  to  face  another  session. 
I  did  not  even  know  that  he  was  ill,  and  my  vision, 
so  far  from  being  based  on  any  calculation  of  Mr. 
Morley's  chances  of  securing  a  seat  in  Parliament, 
was  quite  independent  of  all  electoral  changes. 
My  vision,  my  message,  my  premonition,  or  what- 
ever you  please  to  call  it,  was  strictly  limited  to  one 
point,  Mr.  Morley  only  coming  into  it  indirectly. 
I  was  to  have  charge  of  certain  duties  which  neces- 
sitated his  disappearance  from  Northumberland 
Street.  Note  also  that  my  message  did  not  say 
that  I  was  to  be  editor  of  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette 
on  Mr.  Morley's  departure,  nor  was  I  ever  in 
strict  title  editor  of  that  paper.  I  edited  it,  but 
Mr.  Yates  Thompson  was  nominally  editor-in- 
chief,  nor  did  I  ever  admit  that  I  was  editor  until 
I  was  in  the  dock  at  the  Old  Bailey,  when  it  would 
have  been  cowardly  to  have  seemed  to  evade  the 
responsibility  of  a  position  which  I  practically 
occupied,  although,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  post 
was  never  really  conferred  upon  me. 

My  Imprisonment. 

The  third  instance  which  I  will  quote  is  even 
more  remarkable,  and  entirely  precluded  any 
possibility  of  my  premonition  having  any  influ- 
ence whatever  in  bringing  about  its  realization. 
During  what  is  known  as  the  Armstrong  trial  it 
became  evident  from  the  judge's  ruling  that  a 
conviction  must  necessarily  follow.  I  was  accused 
of  having  conspired  to  take  Eliza  Armstrong  from 


156  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

her  parents  without  their  consent.  My  defence 
was  that  her  mother  had  sold  the  child  through  a 
neighbour  for  immoral  purposes.  I  never  alleged 
that  the  father  had  consented,  and  the  judge  ruled 
with  unmistakable  emphasis  that  her  mother's 
consent,  even  if  proved,  was  not  sufficient.  Here 
I  may  interpolate  a  remark  to  the  effect  that  if 
Mrs.  Armstrong  had  been  asked  to  produce  her 
marriage  lines  the  sheet  anchor  of  the  prosecution 
would  have  given  way,  for  long  after  the  trial  it 
was  discovered  that  from  a  point  of  law  Mr.  Arm- 
strong had  no  legal  rights  over  Eliza,  as  she  was 
born  out  of  wedlock.  The  council  in  the  case, 
however,  said  we  had  no  right  to  suggest  this, 
however  much  we  suspected  it,  unless  we  were 
prepared  with  evidence  to  justify  the  suggestion. 
As  at  that  time  we  could  not  find  the  register  of 
marriage  at  Somerset  House  the  question  was  not 
put,  and  we  were  condemned  largely  on  the  false 
assumption  that  her  father  had  legal  rights  as 
custodian  of  his  daughter.  And  this,  as  it  hap- 
pened, was  not  the  case.  This,  however,  by  the 
way. 

When  the  trial  was  drawing  to  a  close,  convic- 
tion being  certain,  the  question  was  naturally 
discussed  as  to  what  the  sentence  would  be. 
Many  of  my  friends,  including  those  actively  en- 
gaged in  the  trial  on  both  sides,  were  strongly  of 
opinion  that  under  the  circumstances  it  was  cer- 
tain I  should  only  be  bound  over  in  my  own 
recognisance  to  come  up  for  judgment  when 
called  for.  The  circumstances  were  almost  un- 
precedented ;  the  judge,  and  the  Attorney-General, 


PREMONITIONS  AND  SECOND  SIGHT       157 

who  prosecuted,  had  in  the  strongest  manner 
asserted  that  they  recognised  the  excellence  of  the 
motives  which  had  led  me  to  take  the  course  which 
had  landed  me  in  the  dock.  The  Attorney-General 
himself  was  perfectly  aware  that  his  Government 
could  never  have  passed  the  Criminal  L,aw  Amend- 
ment Act — would  never  even  have  attempted  to 
do  so — but  for  what  I  had  done.  The  jury  had 
found  me  guilty,  but  strongly  recommended  me 
to  mercy  on  the  ground,  as  they  said,  that  I  had 
been  deceived  by  my  agent.  The  conviction  was 
very  general  that  no  sentence  of  imprisonment 
would  be  inflicted. 

I  was  never  a  moment  in  doubt.  I  knew  I  was 
going  to  gaol  from  the  moment  Rebecca  Jarrett 
broke  down  in  the  witness-box.  This  may  be 
said  to  be  nothing  extraordinary  ;  but  what  was 
extraordinary  was  that  I  had  the  most  absolute 
conviction  that  I  was  going  to  gaol  for  two  months. 
I  was  told  by  those  who  considered  themselves 
in  a  position  to  speak  with  authority  that  I  was 
perfectly  safe,  that  I  should  not  be  imprisoned, 
and  that  I  should  make  preparations  to  go  abroad 
for  a  holiday  as  soon  as  the  trial  was  over. 

To  all  such  representations  I  always  replied  by 
asserting  with  the  most  implicit  confidence  that  I 
was  certain  to  go  to  gaol,  and  that  my  sentence 
would  be  two  months.  When,  however,  on  Nov- 
ember, 10th,  1885,  I  stood  in  the  dock  to  receive 
sentence,  and  received  from  the  judge  a  sentence 
of  three  months,  I  was  very  considerably  taken 
aback.  I  remember  distinctly  that  I  had  to  re- 
member where  I  was  in  order  to  restrain  the 


158  RKAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

almost  irresistible  impulse  to  interrupt  the  judge 
and  say,  "  I  beg  your  pardon,  my  lord,  you  have 
made  a  mistake,  the  sentence  ought  to  have  been 
two  months/'  But  mark  what  followed.  When  I 
had  been  duly  confined  in  Coldbath-on-the-Fields 
Prison,  I  looked  at  the  little  card  which  is  fastened 
on  the  door  of  every  cell  giving  the  name  of  the 
prisoner,  his  offence,  and  the  duration  of  his 
sentence.  I  found  to  my  great  relief  that  my 
presentiment  had  not  been  wrong  after  all.  I 
had,  it  is  true,  been  sentenced  to  three  months' 
imprisonment,  but  the  sentence  was  dated  from 
the  first  day  of  the  sessions.  Our  trial  had  been  a 
very  long  one,  and  there  had  been  other  cases 
before  it.  The  consequence  was  that  the  judge's 
sentence  was  as  near  two  months  as  he  possibly 
could  have  passed.  My  actual  sojourn  in  gaol  was 
two  months  and  seven  days.  Had  he  sentenced 
me  to  two  months'  imprisonment  I  should  only 
have  been  in  gaol  one  month  and  seven  days. 

These  three  presentiments  were  quite  unmis- 
takable, and  were  not  in  the  least  to  be  confounded 
with  the  ordinary  uneasy  forebodings  which  come 
and  go  like  clouds  in  a  summer  sky.  Of  the  pre- 
monitions which  still  remain  unfulfilled  I  will 
say  nothing,  excepting  that  they  govern  my  action, 
and  more  or  less  colour  the  whole  of  my  life.  No 
person  can  have  had  three  or  four  premonitions 
such  as  those  which  I  have  described  without 
feeling  that  such  premonitions  are  the  only  cer- 
tainties of  the  future.  They  will  be  fulfilled,  no 
matter  how  incredible  they  may  appear ;  and 
amid  the  endless  shifting  circumstances  of  our  life, 


PREMONITIONS  AND  SECOND  SIGHT       159 

these  fixed  points,  towards  which  we  are  inevitably 
tending,  help  to  give  steadiness  to  a  career,  and  a 
feeling  of  security  to  which  the  majority  of  men  are 
strangers.*  Premonitions  are  distinct  from 
dreams,  although  many  times  they  are  communi- 
cated in  sleep.  Whether  in  the  sleeping  or  waking 
stage  there  are  times  when  mortal  men  gain,  as  it 
were,  chance  glimpses  behind  the  veil  which  con- 
ceals the  future.  Sometimes  this  premonition 
takes  the  shape  of  a  deep  indwelling  consciousness, 
based  not  on  reason  or  on  observation,  that  for  us 
awaits  some  great  work  to  be  done,  which  we  know 
but  dimly,  but  which  is,  nevertheless,  the  one 
reality  of  life. 

"One  of  the  premonitions  referred  to  by  my  Father  was  fulfilled  on 
that  fatal  night  in  April,  1912,  when  the  Titanic  struck  an  iceberg  and 
sunk  with  1,600  souls,  and  his  life  on  this  plane  ended. 

He  had  known  for  years  and  stated  the  fact  to  many  that  he  would 
not  die  in  his  bed  and  that  his  "passing"  would  be  sudden  and 
dramatic — that  he  would,  as  he  put  it,  "die  in  his  boots." 

As  to  the  actual  cause  or  place  of  his  "passing"  he  had  no 
premonition — but  rather  inclined  to  the  idea  that  he  would  be  kicked 
to  death  in  the  streets  by  an  angry  mob  whilst  defending  some 
unpopular  cause.  E.  W.  STEAD. 


CHAPTER  II. 
WARNINGS  GIVEN  IN  DREAMS. 

In  my  case  each  of  my  premonitions  related  to 
an  important  crisis  in  my  life,  but  often  pre- 
monitions are  of  a  very  different  nature.  One 
which  was  told  me  when  I  was  in  Glasgow  came 
in  a  dream,  but  it  is  so  peculiar  that  it  is  worthy  of 
mention  in  this  connection.  The  Rev.  William 
Ross,  minister  of  the  Church  of  Cowcaddens,  in 
Glasgow,  is  a  Highlander.  On  the  Sunday  evening 
after  I  had  addressed  his  congregation,  the  con- 
versation turned  on  premonitions  and  second 
sight,  and  he  told  me  the  following  extraordinary 
dream  : — When  he  was  a  lad,  living  in  the  High- 
lands, at  a  time  when  he  had  never  seen  a  game  of 
football,  or  knew  anything  about  it,  he  awoke 
in  the  morning  with  a  sharp  pain  in  his  ankle. 
This  pain,  which  was  very  acute,  and  which  con- 
tinued with  him  throughout  the  whole  day,  was 
caused,  he  said,  by  an  experience  which  he  had  gone 
through  in  a  dream.  He  found  himself  in  a  strange 
place  and  playing  at  a  game  which  he  did  not 
understand,  and  which  resembled  nothing  that  he 
had  seen  played  among  his  native  hills.  He  was 
running  rapidly,  carrying  a  big  black  thing  in  his 
arms,  when  suddenly  another  youth  ran  at  him 
and  kicked  him  violently  on  the  ankle,  causing 
such  intense  pain  that  he  woke.  The  pain,  instead 
of  passing  away,  as  is  usual  when  we  happen 


PREMONITIONS  AND  SECOND  SIGHT      161 

anything  in  dreamland,  was  very  acute,  and  he 
continued  to  feel  it  throughout  the  day. 

Time  passed,  and  six  months  after  his  dream  he 
found  himself  on  the  playing  fields  at  Edinburgh, 
engaged  in  his  first  game  of  football.  He  was  a 
long-legged  country  youth  and  a  swift  runner,  and 
he  soon  found  that  he  could  rush  a  goal  better  by 
taking  the  ball  and  carrying  it  than  by  kicking  it. 
After  having  made  one  or  two  goals  in  this  way, 
he  was  endeavouring  to  make  a  third,  when, 
exactly  as  he  had  seen  in  his  dream,  a  player  on  the 
opposite  side  swooped  upon  him  and  kicked  him 
heavily  upon  the  ankle.  The  blow  was  so  severe 
that  he  was  confined  to  the  house  for  a  fortnight. 
The  whole  scene  was  exactly  that  which  he  had 
witnessed  in  his  dream.  The  playing  fields,  the 
game,  the  black  round  ball  in  his  arms,  and  finally 
the  kick  on  the  ankle.  It  would  be  difficult  to 
account  for  this  on  any  ground  of  mere  coinci- 
dence, the  chances  against  it  are  so  enormous. 
It  is  a  very  unusual  thing  for  any  one  to  suffer 
physical  pain  in  the  waking  state  from  incidents 
which  take  place  in  dreams. 

A  Premonition  of  a  Bad  Debt. 

When  in  Edinburgh  I  had  the  good  fortune 
to  meet  a  gentleman,  who  had  held  an  impor- 
tant position  of  trust  in  connection  with  the 
Indian  railways.  Speaking  on  the  subject  of 
premonitions,  he  said  that  on  two  occasions  he  had 
had  very  curious  premonitions  of  coming  events 
in  dreams.  One  was  very  trivial,  the  other  more 
serious,  but  both  are  quite  inexplicable  on  the 

K 


162  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

theory  of  coincidence.  The  evidential  value  is 
enhanced  by  the  fact  that  each  time  he  men- 
tioned his  dreams  to  his  wife  before  the  realisation 
came  about.  I  saw  his  wife  and  she  confirmed  his 
stories.  The  first  was  curious  from  its  simplicity. 
A  certain  debtor  owed  Mr.  T.  an  amount  of  some 
£30.  One  morning  he  woke  up  and  informed  his 
wife  that  he  had  had  a  very  disagreeable  dream, 
to  the  effect  that  the  money  would  never  be  paid, 
and  that  all  he  would  recover  of  the  debt  was  seven 
pounds  odd  shillings  and  sixpence.  The  number 
of  shillings  he  had  forgotten,  but  he  remembered 
distinctly  the  pounds  and  the  sixpence.  A  few 
days  later  he  received  an  intimation  that  some- 
thing had  gone  wrong  with  the  debtor,  and  the  total 
sum  which  he  ultimately  recovered  was  the  exact 
amount  which  he  had  heard  in  his  dream  and  had 
mentioned  on  the  following  morning  to  his  wife. 

A  Dream  of  Death. 

His  other  dream  was  more  curious.  An  ac- 
quaintance of  his  in  India  was  compelled  to  return 
home  on  furlough  on  account  of  the  ill-health  of  his 
wife,  and  he  agreed  to  let  his  bungalow  to  Mr.  T. 
One  morning  Mr.  T.  woke  up  and  told  his  wife 
of  what  he  had  dreamt.  He  had  gone  to  Luck- 
now  railway  station  to  take  possession  of  Mr. 
C's.  bungalow,  but  when  stepping  on  the  platform 
the  stationmaster  had  told  him  that  Mr.  C.  was 
dead,  and  that  he  hoped  it  would  not  make  any 
difficulties  about  the  bungalow.  So  deeply  im- 
pressed was  he  with  the  dream  that  he  telegraphed 
to  his  friend  C.  to  ask  when  he  was  going  to  start 


PREMONITIONS  AND  SECOND  SIGHT      163 

for  England,,  feeling  by  no  means  sure  that  the 
reply  telegram  might  not  announce  that  he  was 
dead.  The  telegram,  however,  came  back  in  due 
course.  Mr.  C.  stated  that  he  was  going  to  leave 
on  such  and  such  a  date.  Reassured,  therefore, 
Mr.  T.  dismissed  the  idea  of  the  dream  as  a  sub- 
jective delusion.  At  the  appointed  time  he  de- 
parted for  Lucknow.  When  he  alighted  he  was 
struck  by  the  strange  resemblance  of  the  scene 
to  that  in  his  dream,  and  this  was  further  recalled 
to  his  mind  when  the  stationmaster  came  up  to 
him  and  said,  not  that  Mr.  C.  was  dead  but  that  he 
was  seriously  ill,  and  that  he  hoped  it  would  not 
make  any  difference  about  the  bungalow.  Mr.  T. 
began  to  be  uneasy.  The  next  morning,  when  he 
entered  the  office,  his  chief  said  to  him,  "  You 
will  be  very  sorry  to  hear  that  Mr.  C.  died  last 
night."  Mr.  T.  has  never  had  any  other  hallucin- 
ations, nor  has  he  any  theory  to  account  for  his 
dreams.  All  that  he  knows  is  that  they  occurred, 
and  that  in  both  cases  what  he  saw  was  realised— 
in  one  case  to  the  very  letter,  and  in  the  other  with 
a  curious  deviation  which  adds  strong  confirmatory 
evidence  to  the  bond  fides  of  the  narrator.  Both 
stories  are  capable  of  ample  verification  if  suffi- 
cient trouble  were  taken,  as  the  telegram  in  one 
case  could  be  traced,  the  death  proved,  and  in  the 
other  the  receipt  might  probably  be  found. 

DREAMS  which  give  timely  notice  of  coming 
accidents  are,  unfortunately,  quite  as  often  useless 
as  they  are  efficacious  for  the  protection  of  those 
to  whom  they  are  sent.  Mr.  Kendall,  from  whose 
psychical  diary  I  have  often  quoted,  sends  me  the 


164  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

following  story  of  a  dream  which  occurred,  but 
which  failed  to  save  the  dreamer's  leg,  although  he 
struggled  against  it,  and  did  his  best  to  avert  his 
evil  fate  :— 

'  Taking  tea  at  a  friend's  house  in  the  road  where 
I  live,  I  met  with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Johnson,  super- 
intendent of  the  South  Shields  Circuit  among  the 
Primitive  Methodists.  He  spoke  with  great  con- 
fidence of  the  authenticity  of  a  remarkable  dream 
which  he  related.  He  used  to  reside  at  Shipley, 
near  Bradford.  His  class-leader  there  had  lost  a 
leg,  and  he  had  heard  direct  from  himself  the 
circumstances  under  which  the  loss  took  place 
and  the  dream  that  accompanied.  This  class- 
leader  was  a  blacksmith  at  a  manufacturing  mill 
which  was  driven  by  a  water-wheel.  He  knew 
the  wheel  to  be  out  of  repair,  when  one  night  he 
dreamed  that  at  the  close  of  the  day's  work  the 
manager  detained  him  to  repair  it,  that  his  foot 
slipped  and  became  entangled  between  the  two 
wheels,  and  was  injured  and  afterwards  ampu- 
tated. In  consequence  he  told  his  wife  the  dream 
in  the  morning,  and  made  up  his  mind  to  be  out 
of  the  way  that  evening,  if  he  was  wanted  to  repair 
the  wheel.  During  the  day  the  manager  announced 
that  the  wheel  must  be  repaired  when  the  work- 
people left  that  evening,  but  the  blacksmith 
determined  to  make  himself  scarce  before  the  hour 
arrived.  He  fled  to  a  wood  in  the  vicinity,  and 
thought  to  hide  himself  there  in  its  recesses.  He 
came  to  a  spot  where  some  timber  lay  which  be- 
longed to  the  mill,  and  detected  a  lad  stealing 
some  pieces  of  wood  from  the  heap.  He  pursued 


PREMONITIONS  AND  SECOND  SIGHT      165 

him  in  order  to  rescue  the  stolen  property,  became 
excited,  and  forgot  all  about  his  resolution.  He 
found  himself  ere  he  was  aware  of  it  back  at  the 
mill  just  as  the  workpeople  were  being  dismissed. 
He  could  not  escape,  and  as  he  was  principal  smith 
he  had  to  go  upon  the  wheel,  but  he  resolved  to  be 
very  careful.  In  spite  of  his  care,  however,  his 
foot  slipped  and  got  entangled  between  the  two 
wheels  just  as  he  had  dreamed.  It  was  crushed  so 
badly  that  he  had  to  be  carried  to  the  Bradford 
Infirmary,  where  the  leg  was  amputated  above 
the  knee.  The  premonitory  dream  was  thus  ful- 
filled throughout/' 

A  Death  Warning. 

A  much  more  painful  story  and  far  more  detailed 
is  contained  in  the  fifth  volume  of  the  "  Proceed- 
ings of  the  Psychical  Research  Society,"  on  the 
authority  of  C.  F.  Fleet,  of  26,  Grosvenor  Road, 
Gainsborough.  He  swears  to  the  authenticity  of 
the  facts.  The  detailed  story  is  full  of  the  tragic 
fascination  which  attaches  to  the  struggle  of  a 
brave  man,  repeatedly  warned  of  his  coming 
death,  struggling  in  vain  to  avert  the  event  which 
was  to  prove  fatal,  and  ultimately  perishing  within 
the  sight  of  those  to  whom  he  had  revealed  the 
vision.  The  story  in  brief  is  as  follows  :  Mr.  Fleet 
was  third  mate  on  the  sailing  ship  Persian  Empire, 
which  left  Adelaide  for  London  in  1868.  One  of 
the  crew,  Cleary  by  name,  dreamed  before  starting 
that  on  Christmas  morning,  as  the  Persian  Empire 
was  passing  Cape  Horn  in  a;heavy  gale,  he  was 


166  RKAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

boat  hanging  in  davits  over  the  side.  He  and 
another  got  into  the  boat,  when  a  fearful  sea 
broke  over  the  ship,  washing  them  both  out  of  the 
boat  into  the  sea,  where  they  were  both  drowned. 
The  dream  made  such  an  impression  upon  him 
that  he  was  most  reluctant  to  join  the  ship,  but 
he  overcame  his  scruples  and  sailed.  On  Christmas 
Eve,  when  they  were  nearing  Cape  Horn,  Cleary 
had  a  repetition  of  his  dream,  exact'in  all  particu- 
lars. He  uttered  a  terrible  cry,  and  kept  mutter- 
ing, "  I  know  it  will  come  true/'  On  Christmas 
Day,  exactly  as  he  had  foreseen,  Cleary  and  the 
rest  of  the  watch  were  ordered  to  secure  a  boat 
hanging  in  the  davits.  Cleary  flatly  refused. 
He  said  he  refused  because  he  knew  he  would  be 
drowned,  that  all  the  circumstances  of  his  dream 
had  come  true  up  to  that  moment,  and  if  he  went 
into  that  boat  he  would  die.  He  was  taken  below 
to  the  captain,  and  his  refusal  to  discharge  duty 
was  entered  in  the  log.  Then  the  chief  officer, 
Douglas,  took  the  pen  to  sign  his  name.  Cleary 
suddenly  looked  at  him  and  exclaimed,  "  I  will 
go  to  my  duty  for  now  I  know  the  other  man  in 
my  dream/'  He  told  Douglas,  as  they  were  on 
deck,  of  his  dream.  They  got  into  the  boat,  and 
when  they  were  all  making  tight  a  heavy  sea 
struck  the  vessel  with  such  force  that  the  crew 
would  have  been,  washed  overboard  had  they  not 
clung  to  the  mast.  The  boat  was  turned  over, 
and  Douglas  and  Cleary  were  flung  into  the  sea. 
They  swam  for  a  little  time,  and  then  went  down. 
It  was  just  three  months  after  he  had  dreamed  of 
it  before  leaving  Adelaide. 


PREMONITIONS  AND  SECOND  SIGHT      167 

Here  we  have  inexorable  destiny  fulfilling  itself 
in  spite  of  the  struggles  of  its  destined  victim.  It 
reminds  me  of  a  well-known  Oriental  story,  which 
tells  how  a  friend  who  was  with  Solomon  saw  the 
Angel  of  Death  looking  at  him  very  intently. 
On  learning  from  Solomon  whom  the  strange  visitor 
was,  he  felt  very  uncomfortable  under  his  gaze, 
and  asked  Solomon  to  transport  him  on  his  magic 
carpet  to  Damascus.  No  sooner  said  than  done. 
Then  said  the  Angel  of  Death  to  Solomon,  "  The 
reason  why  I  looked  so  intently  at  your  friend  was 
because  I  had  orders  to  take  him  at  Damascus, 
and,  behold,  I  found  him  at  Jerusalem.  Now, 
therefore,  that  he  has  transported  himself  thither 
I  shall  be  able  to  obey  my  orders/' 

A  Life  Saved  by  a  Dream. 

The  Rev.  Alexander  Stewart,  Lly.D.,  F.S.A.,  etc., 
Nether  Lochaber,  sends  me  the  following  instance 
of  a  profitable  premonition  :— 

"  It  was  in  the  winter  of  1853  that  my  brother- 
in-law,  Mr.  Kenneth  Morrison,  came  on  a  visit 
to  us  here  at  the  Manse  of  Nether  I^ochaber.  Mr. 
Morrison  was  at  that  time  chief  officer  of  the 
steamship  City  of  Manchester,  of  the  Inman  line, 
one  of  the  ocean  '  greyhounds  '  of  her  day,  sailing 
between  Liverpool  and  Philadelphia. 

"  In  my  service  here,  at  the  time  of  Mr.  Morri- 
son's visit,  was  a  native  of  Lochaber,  Angus  Mac- 
Master  by  name,  an  active,  intelligent  man,  of 
about  thirty  years  of  age,  a  most  useful  man,  a 
capital  shot,  an  expert  angler,  and  one  of  the  best 
violinists  in  the  West  Highlands.  No  great  wonder. 


168  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

therefore,  that  Morrison  took  a  liking  for  Angus, 
and  that  the  end  of  it  was  that  Morrison  invited 
Angus  to  join  him  on  board  the  City  of  Manchester, 
where,  it  was  arranged,  he  should  act  as  one  of  the 
steerage  stewards,  and,  at  the  same  time,  as  Mr. 
Morrison's  valet.  To  this  Angus  very  willingly 
agreed,  and  so  it  was  that  when  Mr.  Morrison's 
leave  of  absence  expired,  he  and  Angus  joined  the 
City  of  Manchester  at  Liverpool. 

"  Within  a  twelvemonth  afterwards,  Mr.  Morri- 
son wrote  to  say  that  he  was  about  to  be  pro- 
moted to  the  command  of  the  new  Inman  Steam- 
ship City  of  Glasgow — at  that  time,  of  her  class  and 
kind,  the  finest  ship  afloat — and  that  having  got  a 
few  weeks'  holiday,  he  was  coming  down  to  visit 
his  friends  in  L,ochaber,  bringing  Angus  MacMaster 
along  with  him,  for  he  had  proved  so  good  and 
faithful  a  servant  that  he  was  resolved  not  to  part 
with  him. 

"  Sooner  than  was  expected,  and  when  his 
leave  had  only  extended  to  some  twenty  days, 
Captain  Morrison  was  summoned  to  Liverpool 
to  take  charge  of  his  ship,  which  had  already 
booked  her  full  complement  of  passengers,  and 
taken  in  most  of  her  cargo,  and  only  required 
some  little  putting  to  rights,  which  had  better  be 
done  under  her  commander's  supervision,  before 
she  sailed  on  her  maiden  trip  to  Philadelphia. 
'  I  must  be  off  the  day  after  to-morrow/  said 
Morrison,  as  he  handed  the  letter  to  me  across  the 
table.  '  Please  send  for  Angus,'  he  continued, 
'  I  wish  him  to  come  at  once,  that  we  may  be 
ready  to  start  by  Wednesday  morning.'  This 


PREMONITIONS  AND  SECOND  SIGHT      169 

was  at  the  breakfast  table  on  a  Monday  morning  ; 
and  that  same  evening  Angus,  summoned  by  a 
special  messenger  from  the  glen  in  which  he  was 
staying  with  his  friends,  arrived  at  the  Manse, 
but  in  so  grave  and  cheerless  a  mood  that  I  noticed 
it  at  once,  and  wondered  what  could  be  the  matter 
with  him.  Taking  him  into  a  private  room,  I  said, 
'  Angus,  Captain  Morrison  leaves  the  day  after 
to-morrow.  You  had  better  get  his  things  packed 
at  once.  And,  by  the  way,  what  a  lucky  fellow 
you  are  !  If  you  did  so  well  on  the  City  of  Man- 
chester, you  will  in  a  year  or  two  make  quite  a 
fortune  in  the  City  of  Glasgow.'  To  my  astonish- 
ment Angus  replied,  '  I  am  not  going  in  the  City 
of  Glasgow — at  least,  not  on  this  voyage — and  I 
wish  you  could  persuade  Captain  Morrison — the 
best  and  kindest  master  ever  man  had — not  to  go 
either.'  '  Not  going  ?  What  in  the  world  do  you 
mean,  Angus  ?  '  was  my  very  natural  exclamation 
of  surprise.  '  Well,  sir/  said  Angus  (the  reader 
will  please  understand  that  our  talk  was  in  Gaelic). 
1  Well,  sir/  said  Angus,  '  You  must  not  be  angry 
with  me  if  I  tell  you  that  on  the  last  three  nights 
my  father,  who  has  been  dead  nine  years,  as  you 
know,  has  appeared  to  me  and  warned  me  not 
to  go  on  this  voyage,  for  that  it  will  prove  dis- 
astrous. Whether  in  dream  or  waking  vision  of 
the  night,  I  cannot  say  ;  but  I  saw  him,  sir,  as 
distinctly  as  I  now  see  you  ;  clothed  exactly  as  I 
remember  him  in  life  ;  and  he  stood  by  my  bed- 
side, and  with  up-lifted  hand  and  warning  finger, 
and  with  a  most  solemn  and  earnest  expression  of 
countenance,  he  said,  "  Angus,  my  beloved  son, 


170  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

don't  go  on  this  voyage.  It  will  not  be  a  prosper- 
ous one/'  On  three  nights  running  has  my  father 
appeared  to  me  in  this  form,  and  with  the  same 
words  of  warning  ;  and  although  much  against 
my  will,  I  have  made  up  my  mind  that  in  the  face 
of  such  warning,  thrice  repeated,  it  would  be 
wrong  in  me  to  go  on  this  voyage.  It  does  not 
become  me  to  do  it,  but  I  wish  you,  sir,  would  tell 
Captain  Morrison  what  I  have  now  told  you  ;  and 
persuade  him  if  possible  to  make  the  best  excuse 
he  can,  and  on  no  account  to  go  on  this  voyage 
in  the  City  of  Glasgow.'  I  said  all  I  could,  of  course, 
and  when  Captain  Morrison  was  told  of  it,  he,  too, 
said  all  he  could  to  shake  Angus  from  his  resolu- 
tion ;  but  all  in  vain.  And  so  it  was  that  Morrison 
left  without  him  ;  poor  Angus  actually  weeping 
as  he  bade  his  master  good-bye. 

"  Early  in  March  of  that  year,  the  City  of 
Glasgow,  with  a  valuable  cargo  and  upwards  of 
five  hundred  passengers  on  board,  sailed  under 
Morrison's  command  for  Philadelphia  ;  and  all 
that  was  good  and  prosperous  was  confidently 
predicted  of  the  voyage  of  so  fine  a  ship  under 
charge  of  so  capable  a  commander.  When  suffi- 
cient time  had  expired,  and  there  was  still  no 
word  of  the  ship's  arrival  at  Philadelphia,  Angus 
came  to  enquire  if  we  had  heard  anything  about 
her.  I  could  only  reply  that  there  was  as  yet  no 
word  of  her,  but  that  the  owners,  in  reply  to  my 
inquiries,  were  confident  of  her  safety — their 
theory  being  that  something  had  gone  wrong 
with  her  engines,  and  that  she  was  probably  pro- 
ceeding under  sail.  '  Pray  God  it  may  be  so  !  ' 


PREMONITIONS  AND  SECOND  SIGHT      171 

said  Angus,  with  the  tears  in  his  eyes  ;  and  then  in 
his  own  emphatic  language — ach  s'eagal  learn, 
aon  chuid  dhuibhse  na  dhomhsa  nach  tig  fios  na 
forfhais  oiree  gu  brath — (but  great  is  my  fear  that 
neither  to  you,  sir,  nor  to  me  shall  word  of  her 
safety,  or  message  from  her  at  all  ever  arrive). 
And  it  was  even  so  :  from  the  day  she  left  the 
Mersey  until  this  day  no  word  of  the  City  of 
Glasgow  has  ever  been  heard.  It  was  the  opinion 
of  those  best  able  to  offer  a  probable  conjecture 
at  the  time,  that  she  must  have  come  into  contact 
with  an  iceberg,  and  instantly  gone  down  with  all 
on  board. 

"  I  may  add  that  Angus  was  a  Catholic,  and 
that  Father  Macdonald,  his  priest,  told  me  shortly 
afterwards  that  Angus,  before  my  messenger 
calling  him  to  the  Manse  could  have  reached  him, 
had  communicated  the  thrice-repeated  dream  or 
vision  to  him  in  confession,  and  precisely  in  the 
same  terms  he  used  in  describing  it  to  me.  When 
no  hope  of  the  safety  of  the  City  of  Glasgow  could 
any  longer  be  entertained,  Angus  emigrated  to 
Australia,  whence  after  the  lapse  of  several  years, 
he  wrote  me  to  say  that  he  was  well  and  doing  well. 
Whether  he  is  still  in  life,  or  gone  over  to  the 
majority,  I  do  not  know." 

A  Highlander's  Dream  of  his  Drowning. 
Another  story,  which  was  sent  me  by  my  old 
friend  the  housekeeper  ot  the  Hon.  Auberon 
Herbert's  Highland  retreat  on  the  shores  of  Loch 
Awe,  is  an  awtul  tale  of  destiny,  the  premonition 
of  which  only  renders  it  more  tragic. 


172  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

They  were  all  sitting  round  the  fire  one  winter 
night  each  relating  his  best  story.  Each  had  told 
his  story  of  the  most  wonderful  things  he  had 
heard  or  seen  in  the  Ghost  line  except  Martin 
Barraw  from  Uist  who  sat  silently  listening  to  all. 

"  Come,  Martin/1  said  the  man  of  the  house  "  are 
you  not  going  to  tell  a  story,  I  am  sure  you  know 
many  ?  " 

"  Well  yes,"  said  Martin.  "  I  know  some  and 
there  is  one  strange  one,  running  in  my  mind  all 
this  night,  that  I  have  never  told  to  anyone  yet, 
but  I  think  I  must  tell  it  to-night/' 

"Oh,  yes,  do,  Martin,"  cried  all  present. 

"  Well,"  said  Martin,  "  you  all  I  am  sure  remem- 
ber the  night  of  the  fatal  boat  accident  at  Portroch 
ferry,  when  Murdoch  McL,ane,  big  David  the 
Gamekeeper,  and  Donald  McRae,  the  ferryman 
were  drowned  and  I  was  the  only  one  saved  of  the 
four." 

"  Yes  we  do  that  Martin,  remember  it  well,"  said 
the  good  man,  "  that  was  the  night  the  Taybridge 
was  blown  down,  it  was  a  Sunday  night  the 
28th  of  Dec.  '79." 

"  Yes  you  are  right  that  was  the  very  night.  Well 
you  know  Murdoch  and  I  were  Salmon  watching 
down  the  other  side  of  the  L,och  that  winter.  Well 
one  night  about  the  middle  of  November  we  were 
sitting  by  the  side  of  Altanlarich,  it  would  be 
about  midnight,  we  had  sat  for  some  time  without 
speaking  I  thought  Murdoch  was  asleep  and  I  was 
very  nearly  so,  when  suddenly  Murdoch  sprung 
to  his  feet  with  a  jump  that  brought  me  to  mine 
in  a  second. 


PREMONITIONS  AND  SECOND  SIGHT      173 

"Goodness  what  is  wrong  with  you/'  said  I, 
looking  round  in  every  direction  to  see  what 
startled  him  but  could  see  nothing. 

'  O  dear,  dear !  what  a  horrid  dream  I  have 
had/  said  he.  'A  dream/  said  I.  '  My '  I  thought 
you  had  seen  a  ghost  or  something  by  the  spring 
you  gave/ 

'  Well !  you  would  spring  too  if  you  could  and  you 
drowning. '  Then  he  told  me  that  he  thought  it  was 
the  28th  of  December  and  there  was  such  a  storm  he 
had  never  seen  anything  like  it  in  his  life  before. 
'  We  were  crossing  the  loch  at  the  ferry/  said  he. 
'  We  had  the  big  white  boat  and  four  oars  on  her. 
Big  David  the  keeper  Donald  the  ferryman  you 
and  I.  And  man  but  it  was  awful.  The  boat 
right  up  on  end  at  times  every  wave  washing  over 
us  and  filling  the  boat  more  and  more,  and  no 
way  of  bailing  her,  because  no  one  could  let  go  his 
oar,  you  and  I  were  on  the  weather  side,  and  Big 
David  and  Donald  on  the  other,  they  of  course 
had  the  worst  of  it,  we  got  on  until  we  were  near 
the  other  side,  the  waves  were  getting  bigger  and 
the  boat  getting  heavier,  we  were  going  to  run  for 
the  creek,  when  she  was  struck  by  a  huge  wave 
that  filled  her  up  to  the  seats  and  sent  David  and 
Donald  on  their  backs,  they  lost  their  oars,  and 
the  next  wave  came  right  over  her  and  down  she 
went.  The  other  two  never  were  seen,  you  and  I 
came  up  and  tried  to  swim  to  the  shore,  you  got 
near  enough  to  catch  a  rope  that  was  thrown 
you,  but  I  could  not  get  through  the  tremendous 
waves  and  was  just  going  down  when  I  awoke 
with  such  a  start/ 


174  REAL  GHOST  STORIES 

"  'My  what  a  frightful  dream/  said  I.  'I  should 
not  like  to  have  such  a  dream  although  I  do  not 
believe  in  dreams  or  Ghosts  or  these  things  it 
was  the  rain  falling  on  your  face  did  it.' 

"  '  Well !  may  be  it  was  said  he/  but  all  the  same  I 
could  see  he  was  thinking  a  good  deal  about  it 
all  night,  although  I  tried  to  laugh  him  out  of  ;t. 
Well  time  passed  until  about  the  beginning  of 
December  there  was  heavy  rain  Murdoch  went 
home  to  see  his  wife  and  family  as  all  the  rivers 
were  flooded  and  there  was  no  need  of  watching. 
He  was  on  his  way  back  to  his  work  on  the  evening 
of  the  next  day,  when  he  got  to  the  ferry,  it  was 
raining  and  blowing  like  to  blow  the  breeks  off  a 
Hieland  man  as  they  say.  'Dear  me  Murdoch/ 
said  Donald  the  ferryman,  'you  surely,  don't  mean 
to  go  out  to-night/ 

"  '  It  is  very  stormy/  said  Murdoch,  '  if  you 
would  be  so  kind  as  come  over  for  me  at  six 
o'clock  in  the  morning  I  would  go  home  again  I 
must  be  down  passed  the  Governor's  before  he  gets 
up  you  know.' 

"  '  Oh !  I'll  do  that  for  you  Murdoch/  said  Donald. 
So  Murdoch  went  home  again  that  night  and 
next  morning  by  six  o'clock  he  was  at  the  ferry 
again.  '  Well  done,  Donald.  You  are  a  man  of 
your  word/  said  he,  as  he  saw  what  he  thought 
was  Donald  on  the  pier  waiting  him  with  his 
boat  along  side, — the  morning  was  calm  and  fair 
though  pretty  dark,  he  thought  it  strange  Donald 
did  not  answer  him,  but  hurrying  down  the  pier 
was  about  to  step  into  the  boat,  when  he  felt 
someone  strike  him  a  violent  blow  on  the  ear  with 


PREMONITIONS  AND  SECOND  SIGHT      175 

the  open  hand.  Looking  sharply  round  he  was 
astonished  to  find  no  one  near,  but  he  thought 
as  he  turned  round  he  had  seen  a  dark  shadow 
disappear  in  the  distance. 

" '  God  be  with  us/  said  he,  turning  to  Donald, 
'  what  was  that  ? '  He  was  horror  struck  to  see  a 
most  hideous  object  for  what  he  had  taken  to  be 
Donald,  glaring  at  him  with  eyes  of  fire.  '  God  have 
mercy  on  my  soul/  said  he,  as  he  turned  to  run,  but 
he  had  no  sooner  done  so  than  he  was  seized  by  a 
grasp  of  iron  and  pressed  down  towards  the  boat, 
then  began  a  struggle  for  life.  He  wrestled  and 
struggled  with  all  his  strength  and  you  know  he 
was  a  very  strong  man,  but  he  could  do 
nothing  in  the  iron  grasp  of  his  foe,  and 
that  foe  a  mere  shadow,  he  was  surely  and 
steadly  forced  towards  the  boat,  he  was  being 
forced  over  the  side  of  the  pier  and  into  the  boat 
through  which  he  could  see  the  waves  rolling 
quite  clearly,  it  was  a  mere  shadow  also 

'  "  Oh  God  help  me/  he  cried  from  the  depth  of 
his  heart  as  he  gave  himself  up  for  lost.  Suddenly 
as  though  forced  by  some  unseen  power  the  grasp 
that  held  him  ceased  and  Murdoch  fell  back  upon 
the  pier  unconscious. 

"How  long  he  lay  he  could  not  say,  but  it  was 
Donald  throwing  water  in  his  face  that  brought 
him  round,  they  went  into  the  Hotel  where  the 
people  were  just  getting  up,  and  he  got  a  glass 
of  brandy  to  steady  his  nerves,  and  after  a  short 
time  they  started  and  Murdoch  got  back  to  his 
work  sometime  during  the  day,  where  he  told  me 
the  whole  affair. 


176  REAL  GHOST  STORIES 

"  Poor  Murdoch  was  much  changed  after  that, 
for  the  few  days  that  he  lived  you  could  easily  see 
the  thing  was  pressing  upon  his  mind  a  good  deal. 

"  I  need  not  tell  you  of  the  boat  accident,  you  all 
know  that  well  enough  already,  how  Murdoch's 
dream  became  true  even  to  the  very  letter.  Mr. 
Ross  the  Minister  was  preaching  in  the  little 
church  up  here  we  went  to  put  him  across  the 
I/och  and  it  was  while  coming  back  that  we  were 
caught  in  the  storm  and  the  boat  was  swamped. 
Big  David  and  Donald  never  were  seen.  Murdoch 
and  I  tried  to  swim  to  the  shoie  but  he  only  got  a 
short  way  when  he  also  sank  and  was  drowned.  I 
got  near  enough  to  catch  a  rope  that  they  threw 
out  to  me  and  they  pulled  me  in  although  I  was 
just  about  dead  too." 

There  are  many  cases  of  this  unavailing  warning. 
Mr.  T.  A.  Hamilton,  of  Ryedale  Terrace,  Max- 
welltown,  Dumfries,  writes  :— 

"  Thirty  years  ago  I  had  the  misfortune  to  lose 
my  right  eye  under  peculiar  circumstances,  and 
the  night  previous  to  the  day  on  which  it  hap- 
pened my  sister  dreamt  that  it  had  happened 
under  precisely  the  same  circumstances  to  which  it 
did,  and  related  her  dream  to  the  household  before 
it  had  occurred.  The  distance  between  the  scene 
of  the  accident  and  the  house  in  which  she  slept 
was  eight  miles." 

How  a  Betting  Man  was  Converted. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  cases  of  premoni- 
tions occurring  in  a  dream  is  that  which  I  have 
received  from  the  Rev.  Mr.  Champness,  who  is 


PREMONITIONS  AND  SECOND  SIGHT      177 

very  well  known  in  the  Wesleyan  denomination, 
and  whose  reputation  for  sterling  philanthropy 
and  fervent  evangelical  Christianity  is  much  wider 
than  his  denomination.  Here  is  the  story,  as  Mr. 
Champ  ness  sends  it  me  : — 

"  Some  years  ago,  when  working  as  an  Evange- 
list, it  was  arranged  that  I  should  conduct  a  Mission 
in  a  town  which  I  had  never  visited  before,  and 
where,  so  far  as  I  remember,  I  did  not  know  a 
single  person,  though  I  ought  to  say  I  was  very 
much  interested  in  what  I  had  heard  about  the 
place,  and  had  been  led  to  think  with  some  anxiety 
about  the  Mission.  It  would  appear  that  on  the 
Saturday  night  preceding  the  Mission  a  man  in  the 
town  dreamed  that  he  was  standing  opposite  the 
chapel  where  the  Mission  was  to  be  held,  and  that 
while  he  was  standing  there  watching  the  people 
leave  the  chapel,  a  minister,  whom  he  had  never 
seen  before,  came  up  to  him  and  spoke  to  him 
with  great  earnestness  about  religious  matters. 
He  was  so  much  impressed  by  the  dream  that  he 
awoke  his  wife,  and  told  her  how  excited  he  was. 
On  the  Sunday  morning  he  went  to  the  chapel,  and 
greatly  to  his  astonishment,  when  I  came  into  the 
pulpit  he  saw  that  I  was  the  man  whom  he  had 
seen  in  his  dream.  I  need  not  say  that  he  was 
very  much  impressed,  and  took  notice  of  every- 
thing that  the  preacher  said  and  did.  When  he 
got  home  he  reminded  his  wife  of  the  dream  he 
had  had,  and  said,  '  The  man  I  saw  in  my  dream 
was  the  preacher  this  morning,  and  preaches  again 
to-night/  This  interested  his  wife  so  much  that 
she  went  to  chapel  with  him  in  the  evening.  He 

i, 


178  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

attended  on  Monday  and  Tuesday  evenings.  On 
the  Tuesday  evening  after  the  service  he  waited 
outside  the  chapel.  To  his  great  surprise,  when  I 
came  out  of  the  chapel  I  walked  straight  up  to  him, 
and  spoke  to  him  energetically,  just  as  he  had  seen 
on  the  Saturday  night.  The  whole  thing  was  gone 
over  again  in  reality,  just  as  it  had  been  done  in  the 
vision.  On  the  Wednesday  evening  he  was  there 
again,  and  I  remonstrated  with  those  who  had  not 
yielded  to  the  claims  of  Jesus  Christ.  I  pushed 
them  very  hard,  and  was  led  to  say,  without  pre- 
meditation, '  What  hinders  you  ?  Why  do  you 
not  yield  yourself  to  Christ  ?  Have  you  something 
on  a  horse  ?  '  Strange  to  say,  there  was  a  race 
to  be  run  next  day,  and  he  had  backed  the  favour- 
ite, and  stood  to  win  8  to  1 .  As  he  said  afterwards, 
'  I  could  not  lug  a  racehorse  to  the  penitent  form/ 
After  the  service,  he  went  straight  to  the  man  with 
whom  he  had  made  the  bet,  and  said,  '  That  bet's 
off/  at  which  the  man  was  very  glad,  us  ne  expected 
to  lose  the  bet.  Sure  enough,  when  the  race  was 
run  the  one  that  had  been  backed  did  win,  but 
he  had  given  up  any  intention  of  winning  money 
in  that  way,  and  that  night  decided  to  become  a 
Christian.  He  has  since  then  died,  and  I  have 
good  hope  of  seeing  him  in  the  country  where  we 
may  perhaps  understand  these  things  better  than 
we  do  now/' 


CHAPTER  III. 
PREMONITORY  WARNINGS. 

ONE  of  the  most  curiously  detailed  premonitory 
dreams  that  I  have  ever  seen  is  one  mentioned 
in  Mr.  Kendall's  "  Strange  Footsteps."  It  is 
supplied  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Lupton,  Primitive 
Methodist  minister,  a  man  of  high  standing  in  his 
Connection,  whose  mind  is  much  more  that  of  the 
lawyer  than  that  of  poet  or  dreamer  :— 

"  By  the  District  Meeting  Hull  District)  of  1833, 
I  was  restationed  for  the  Malton  Circuit,  with  the 
late  Rev.  T.  Batty.  I  was  then  superintendent  of 
the  Lincoln  Circuit ;  and,  up  to  a  few  days  before 
the  change,  Mrs.  I,upton  and  myself  were  full  of 
anticipation  of  the  pleasures  we  should  enjoy 
among  our  old  friends  on  being  so  much  nearer 
home.  But  some  time  before  we  got  the  news  of 
our  destination,  one  night — I  cannot  now  give 
the  date,  but  it  was  during  the  sittings  of  the 
Conference — I  had  a  dream,  and  next  morning  I 
said  to  my  wife,  '  We  shall  not  go  to  Malton,  as  we 
expect,  but  to  some  large  town  :  I  do  not  know  its 
name,  but  it  is  a  very  large  town.  The  house  we 
shall  occupy  is  up  a  flight  of  stairs,  three  stories 
high.  We  shall  have  three  rooms  on  one  level : 
the  first — the  kitchen — will  have  a  closed  bed  in 
the  right  corner,  a  large  wooden  box  in  another 
corner,  and  the  window  will  look  down  upon  a 
small  grass  plot.  The  room  adjoining  will  be 


i8o  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

the  best  room  :  it  will  have  a  dark  carpet,  with 
six  hair-seated  mahogany  chairs.  The  other  will 
be  a  small  bed-room.  We  shall  not  worship  in  a 
chapel,  but  in  a  large  hall,  which  will  be  tormed 
like  a  gallery.  There  will  be  a  pulpit  in  it,  and  a 
large  circular  table  before  it.  The  entrance  to  it 
will  be  by  a  flight  of  stairs,  like  those  in  a  church 
tower.  After  we  have  ascended  so  far,  the  stairs 
will  divide — one  way  leading  up  to  the  left,  to  the 
top  of  the  place.  This  will  be  the  principal  en- 
trance, and  it  leads  to  the  top  of  the  gallery,  which 
is  entered  by  a  door  covered  with  green  baize 
fastened  with  brass  nails.  The  other  stairs  lead  to 
the  floor  of  the  place  ;  and,  between  the  door  and 
the  hall,  on  the  right-hand  side,  in  a  corner,  is  a 
little  room  or  vestry  :  in  that  vestry  there  will  be 
three  men  accustomed  to  meet  that  will  cause  us 
much  trouble  ;  but  I  shall  know  them  as  soon  as 
ever  I  see  them,  and  we  shall  ultimately  overcome 
them,  and  do  well.' 

"  By  reason  of  some  mishap  or  misadventure,  the 
letter  from  Conference  was  delayed,  so  that  only 
some  week  or  ten  days  prior  to  the  change  I  got  a 
letter  that  informed  me  my  station  was  Glasgow. 
You  may  judge  our  surprise  and  great  disappoint- 
ment ;  however,  after  much  pain  for  mind,  and 
much  fatigue  of  body  and  expense  (for  there  were 
no  railways  then,  and  coaching  was  coaching  in 
those  days),  we  arrived  at  No.  6,  Rotten  Row, 
Glasgow,  on  the  Saturday,  about  half-past  three. 
To  our  surprise  we  found  the  entrance  to  our  house 
up  a  flight  of  stairs  (called  in  Scotland  turnpike 
stairs)  such  as  I  saw  in  my  dream.  The  house  was 


PREMONITIONS  AND  SECOND  SIGHT      181 

hree  stories  high  also,  and  when  we  entered  the 
itchen  door,  lo,  there  was  the  closed  bed,  and 
here  the  box  (in  Scotland  called  a  bunker).     I 
aid  to  Mrs.  Lupton,  '  Look  out  of  the  window/ 
,nd  she  said,  '  Here  is  the  plot  of  grass.'    I  then 
id, '  Look  in  to  the  other  rooms/  and  she  replied, 
Yes,  they  are  as  you  said/    My  colleague,  Mr.  J. 
ohnson,   said,     '  We  preach  in  the  Mechanics' 
nstitution  Hall,  North  Hanover  Street,  George 
treet,  and  you  will  have  to  preach  there  in  the 
norning.'    Well,  morning  came  ;  and,  accompanied 
y  Mr.  Johnson,  I  found  the  place.    The  entrance 
as  as  I  had  seen  in  my  dream.    But  we  entered  the 
all  by  the  right ;  there  was  the  little  room  in  the 
rner.    We  entered  it,  and  one  of  the  men  I  had 
een  in  my  dream,  J.  M'M—  — ,  was  standing  in  it. 
Ye  next  entered  the  hall ;    there  was  the  pulpit 
nd  the  circular  table  before  it.     The  hall  was 
alleried  to  the  top  ;    and,  lo,  the  entrance  door 
at  the  top  was  covered  with  green  baize  and  brass 
nails.     Only  one  man  was  seated,  J.  P—    -;    he 
was  another  of  the  men  I  saw  in  my  dream.     I 
did  not  wait  long  before  J.  Y-    — ,  the  other  man, 
entered.    My  dream  was  thus  so  far  fulfilled.    Well, 
we  soon  had  very  large,  overflowing  congregations. 
The  three  men  above  named  got  into  loose,  dis- 
sipated habits  ;   and,  intriguing  for  some  months, 
caused  us  very  much  trouble,  seeking,  in  conjunc- 
tion with  my  colleague,  to  form  a  division  and 
make  a  party  and  church  for  him.    But,  by  God's 
help,  their  schemes  were  frustrated,   and  I  left 
the  station  in  a  healthy  and  prosperous  state/' 

Mrs.    Dean,    of  44,    Oxford   Street,   writes   as 
follows  : — 


182  REAL  GHOST  STORIES 

"  Early  this  summer,  in  sleep,  I  saw  my  mother 
very  ill  in  agony,  and  woke,  repeating  the  words, ; 
'Mother  is  dying/       I  looked  anxiously  for  a] 
letter  in  the  morning,  but  no  sign  of  one  ;   and  to 
several  at  breakfast  I  told  my  dream,  and  still  felt 
anxious  as  the  day  wore  on.     In  the  afternoon, 
about   three  o'clock,    a    telegram   came,   saying, 
'Mother    a    little    better;    wait   another  wire/' 
About  an  hour  afterwards  came  a  letter  with  a 
cheque  enclosed  for  my  fare,  urging  n:e  to  come 
home  at  once,  '  for  mother,  we  fear,  is  dying/    My! 
mother  recovered  ;  but  upon  going  home  a  short 
time  after,  I  saw  my  mother  just  as  she  then  was 
at  that  time,  and  my  stepfather  used  the  words 
just  as  I  received  them — '  Mother  is  dying/    They 
live  in  Liverpool,  and  I  am  in  London." 

The  following  is  from  the  diary  of  the  Rev. 
Henry  Kendall,  from  which  I  have  frequently 
quoted  :- 

"  Mr.  Mar  ley  related  this  evening  a  curious  inci- 
dent that  occurred  to  himself  long  ago.  When 
he  was  a  young  man  at  home  with  his  parents, 
residing  at  Aycliffe,  he  was  lying  wide  awake  one 
morning  at  early  dawn  in  the  height  of  summer 
when  his  father  came  into  his  bedroom  dressed 
just  as  he  was  accustomed  to  dress — red  waistcoat, 
etc. — but  with  the  addition  of  a  tasselled  nightcap 
which  he  sometimes  kept  on  during  the  da}'.  His 
father  had  been  ailing  for  some  time,  and  said  to 
him,  '  Crawford,  I  want  you  to  make  me  a  pro- 
mise before  I  die/  His  son  replied,  '  I  will, 
father  ;  what  is  it  ?  '  '  That  you  will  take  care 
of  your  mother/  '  Father,  I  promise  you/ 


PREMONITIONS  AND  SECOND  SIGHT      183 

'  Then/  said  the  father,  '  I  can  die  happy/ 
and  went  out  at  the  window.  This  struck  Mr.  M. 
as  an  exceedingly  odd  thing  ;  he  got  out  of  bed 
and  looked  about  the  room  and  satisfied  himself 
that  he  had  made  no  mistake,  but  that  he  had 
really  talked  with  his  father  and  seen  him  go  out 
at  the  window.  In  the  morning,  when  he  entered 
his  father's  room,  the  first  words  he  heard  were, 
'  Crawford,  I  want  you  to  make  me  a  promise 
before  I  die/'  Mr.  M.  replied,  '  Father,  I  will ; 
what  is  it  ?  '  '  That  you  will  take  care  of  your 
mother/'  'Father,  I  promise  you/  'Then  I 
can  die  happy/  Thus  the  conversation  that  took 
place  during  the  night  under  such  singular  circum- 
stances was  repeated  verbatim  in  the  morning  ; 
and  while  it  implied  that  the  father  had  been  pre- 
viously brooding  over  the  subject  of  his  wife's 
comfort  after  he  should  be  taken  away,  it  also 
supplied  important  evidence  that  the  strange 
affair  of  the  night  was  not  mere  imagination  on  the 
part  of  the  son.  The  father  died  soon  afterwards." 

A  Spectral  Postman. 

Of  a  somewhat  similar  nature,  although  in  this 
case  it  was  visible  and  not  audible,  is  that  told  me 
by  the  Rev.  J.  A.  Dalane,  of  West  Hartlepool, 
who,  on  August  14th,  1886,  about  three  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  saw  a  hand  very  distinctly,  as  in 
daylight,  holding  a  letter  addressed  in  the  hand- 
writing of  an  eminent  Swedish  divine.  Both  the 
hand  and  the  letter  appeared  very  distinctly  for 
the  space  of  about  two  minutes.  Then  he  saw  a 
similar  hand  holding  a  sheet  of  foolscap  paper  on 


184  REAL  GHOST  STORIES 

which  he  saw  some  writing,  which  he,  however, 
was  not  able  to  read.  After  a  few  minutes  this 
gradually  faded  and  vanished  away.  This  was 
repeated  three  different  times.  As  soon  as  it  had 
disappeared  the  third  time  he  got  up,  lighted  the 
gas,  and  wrote  down  the  facts.  Six  hours  after- 
wards, at  nine  o'clock,  the  post  brought  a  letter 
which  in  every  particular  corresponded  to  the 
spectral  letter  which  had  been  three  times  shown 
to  him  in  the  early  morning. 

An  Examination  Paper  Seen  in  Dream. 

The  Rev.  D.  Morris,  chaplain  of  Walton  Gaol, 
near  Liverpool,  had  a  similar,  although  more 
useful  experience,  as  follows  :— 

"In  December,  1853,  I  sat  for  a  schoolmaster's 
certificate  at  an  examination  held  in  the  Normal 
College,  Cheltenham.  The  questions  in  the  various 
subjects  were  arranged  in  sections  according  to 
their  value,  and  printed  on  the  margin  of  stiff 
blue-coloured  foolscap,  to  which  the  answers  were 
limited.  It  had  been  the  custom  at  similar  ex- 
aminations in  previous  years  for  the  presiding 
examiners  to  announce  beforehand  the  daily  sub- 
jects of  examinations,  but  on  this  occasion  the 
usual  notice  was  omitted. 

"  After  sitting  all  day  on  Monday,  my  brain  was 
further  excited  by  anxious  guessings  of  the  mor- 
row's subjects,  and  perusals  of  my  note-books. 
That  night  I  had  little  restful  sleep,  for  I  dreamt 
that  I  was  busy  at  work  in  the  examination  hall, 
I  had  in  my  dream  vividly  before  me  the  Geometry 
(Euclid)  paper.  I  was  so  impressed  with  what 


PREMONITIONS  AND  SECOND  SIGHT      185 

I  had  seen  that  I  told  my  intimate  friends  to  get 
up  the  bottom  question  in  each  section  (that  being 
the  bearer  of  most  marks),  and,  it  is  needless  to 
say,  I  did  the  same  myself.  When  the  geometry 
paper  was  distributed  in  the  hall  by  the  examiners, 
to  my  wonder  it  was  really  in  every  respect,  ques- 
tions and  sections,  the  paper  that  I  had  seen  in 
my  dream  on  the  Monday  night. 

"  Nothing  similar  to  it  happened  to  me  before 
or  since.  The  above  fact  has  never  been  recorded 
in  any  publication." 

Forebodings  and  Dreams. 

An  instance  in  which  a  dream  was  useful  in  pre- 
venting an  impending  catastrophe  is  recorded  of  a 
daughter  of  Mrs.  Rutherford,  the  granddaughter 
of  Sir  Walter  Scott.  This  lady  dreamed  more 
than  once  that  her  mother  had  been  murdered 
by  a  black  servant.  She  was  so  much  upset 
by  this  that  she  returned  home,  and  to  her 
great  astonishment,  and  not  a  little  to  her  dismay, 
she  met  on  entering  the  house  the  very  black 
servant  she  had  met  in  her  dream.  He  had  been 
engaged  in  her  absence.  She  prevailed  upon  a 
gentleman  to  watch  in  an  adjoining  room  during 
the  following  night.  About  three  o'clock  in  the 
morning  the  gentleman  hearing  footsteps  on  the 
stairs,  came  out  and  met  the  servant  carrying  a 
quantity  of  coals.  Being  questioned  as  to  where 
he  was  going,  he  answered  confusedly  that  he  was 
going  to  mend  the  mistress's  fire,  which  at  three 
o'clock  in  the  morning  in  the  midde  of  summer 
was  evidently  impossible.  On  further  investiga- 


1 86  REAL  GHOST  STORIES 

tion,  a  strong  knife  was  found  hidden  in  the  coals. 
The  lady  escaped,  but  the  man  was  subsequently 
hanged  for  murder,  and  before  his  execution  he 
confessed  that  he  intended  to  have  assassinated 
Mrs.  Rutherford. 

A  correspondent  in  Dalston  sends  me  an  account 
of  an  experience  which  befell  him  in  1871,  when  a 
lady  strongly  advised  him  against  going  from 
Liverpool  to  a  place  near  Wigan,  where  he  had  an 
appointment  on  a  certain  day.  As  he  could  not 
put  off  the  appointment,  she  implored  him  not 
to  go  by  the  first  train.  In  deference  to  her  fore- 
boding, he  went  by  the  third  train,  and  on  arriving 
at  his  destination  found  that  the  first  train  had 
been  thrown  off  the  line  and  had  rolled  down  an 
embankment  into  the  fields  below.  The  warning 
in  this  case,  he  thinks,  probably  saved  his  life. 

Another  correspondent,  Mr.  A.  N.  Browne,  of 
19,  Wellington  Avenue,  Liverpool,  communicates 
another  instance  of  a  premonitory  dream,  which 
unfortunately  did  not  avail  to  prevent  the  disaster: 

"  My  sister-in-law  was  complaining  to  me  on  a 
warm  August  day,  in  1882,  of  being  out  of  sorts, 
upset  and  altogether  depressed.  I  took  her  a  bit 
to  task,  asked  her  why  she  was  depressed,  and 
elicited  that  she  was  troubled  by  dreaming  the 
preceding  night  that  her  son  Frank,  who  was 
spending  his  holidays  with  his  uncle  near  Preston, 
was  drowned.  Of  course  I  ridiculed  the  idea  of  a 
dream  troubling  any  one.  But  she  only  answered 
that  her  dreams  often  proved  more  than  mere 
sleep-disturbers.  That  was  told  to  me  at  2  p.m. 
or  about.  At  6.30  we  dined,  and  all  thought  of 


PREMONITIONS  AND  SECOND  SIGHT      187 

the  dream  had  vanished  out  of  my  mind  and  my 
sister-in-law  seemed  to  have  overcome  her  de- 
pression. We  were  sitting  in  the  drawing-room, 
say  8  p.m.,  when  a  telegram  arrived.  My  sister-in- 
law  received  it,  turned  to  her  husband  and  said, 
1:  is  for  you,  Tom/  He  opened  it  and  cried, 
'My  God  !  My  God  !  '  and  fell  into  a  chair.  My 
sister-in-law  snatched  the  telegram  from  her 
husband,  looked  at  it,  screamed,  and  fell  prostrate. 
I  in  turn  took  the  telegram,  and  read,  '  Frank  fell 
in  the  river  here  to-day,  and  was  drowned/  It 
was  a  telegram  from  the  youth's  uncle,  with  whom 
he  had  been  staying/' 

Dr.  H.  Grosvenor  Shaw,  M.R.C.S.,  medical 
officer  to  one  of  the  asylums  under  the  London 
County  Council,  sends  me  the  following  briet  but 
striking  story,  which  bears  upon  the  subject  under 
discussion  :— 

Four  men  were  playing  whist.  The  man  dealing 
stopped  to  drink,  and  whilst  drinking  the  man  ner.t 
to  him  poked  him  in  the  side,  telling  him  to  hurry 
up.  Some  of  the  fluid  he  was  drinking  entered  the 
larynx,  and  before  he  could  recover  his  breath  he 
fell  back,  hitting  his  head  against  the  door  post, 
and  lay  on  the  ground  stunned  for  something 
under  a  minute.  When  he  came  to  he  was  natur- 
ally dazed,  and  for  the  moment  surprised  at  his 
surroundings.  He  said  he  had  been  at  the  bed- 
side of  his  friend — mentioning  his  name — who  was 
dying.  The  next  morning  a  telegram  came  to 
say  the  friend  was  dead,  and  he  died,  it  was  ascer- 
tained at  the  exact  time  the  accident  at  the  card 
table  took  place.  I  would  remark  the  dead  man 


i88  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

had  been  enjoying  perfect  health,  and  no  one  had 
received  any  information  that  he  was  ill,  which 
illness  was  sudden/' 

A   Vision  of  Coming  Death. 

One  familiar  and  very  uncanny  form  of  pre- 
monition, or  of  foreseeing,  is  that  in  which  a  coffin 
is  seen  before  the  death  of  some  member  of  the 
household.  The  following  narrative  is  communi- 
cated to  me  by  Mrs.  Crofts,  of  22,  Blurton  Road, 
Clapton.  She  is  quite  clear  that  she  actually  saw 
what  she  describes  :— 

"  A  week  prior  to  the  death  of  my  husband,  when 
he  and  I  had  retired  to  rest,  I  lay  for  a  long  while 
endeavouring  to  go  to  sleep,  but  failed  ;  and  after 
tossing  about  for  some  time  I  sat  up  in  bed,  and 
having  sat  thus  for  some  time  was  surprised  to  see 
the  front  door  open,  I  could  see  the  door  plainly 
from  where  I  was,  cur  bedroom  door  being  always 
kept  open.  I  was  astonished  but  not  afraid  when, 
immediately  after  the  door  opened,  two  men  en- 
tered bearing  a  coffin  which  they  carried  upstairs, 
right  into  the  room  where  I  was,  and  laid  it  down 
on  the  hearth-rug  by  the  side  of  the  bed,  and  then 
went  away  shutting  the  front  door  after  them.  I 
was  of  course  somewhat  troubled  over  the  matter, 
and  mentioned  it  to  my  husband  when  having 
breakfast  the  following  morning.  He  insisted  that 
I  had  been  dreaming,  and  I  did  not  again  let  the 
matter  trouble  my  mind.  A  week  that  day  my 
husband  died  very  suddenly.  I  was  engaged  in  one 
of  the  rooms  upstairs  the  evening  afterwards, 
when  a  knock  came  to  the  door,  which  was  an- 


PREMONITIONS  AND  SECOND  SIGHT      189 

swered  by  my  mother,  and  I  did  not  take  any 
notice  until  I  heard  the  footsteps  of  those  coming 
up  the  stairs,  when  I  looked  out,  and  lo  !  I  beheld 
the  two  men  whom  I  had  seen  but  a  week  pre- 
viously carry  and  put  the  coffin  in  exactly  the 
same  place  that  they  had  done  on  their  previous 
visit.  I  cannot  describe  to  you  my  feelings,  but 
from  that  time  until  the  present  I  am  convinced 
that,  call  them  what  you  like — apparitions,  ghosts, 
or  forewarnings — they  are  a  reality/1 

Profitable  Premonitions. 

There  are,  however,  cases  in  which  a  premonition 
has  been  useful  to  those  who  have  received  timely 
warning  of  disaster.  The  ill-fated  Pegasus,  that 
went  down  carrying  with  it  the  well-known  Rev. 
J.  Morell  Mackenzie,  an  uncle  of  the  well-known 
physician,  who  preserves  a  portrait  of  the  dis- 
tinguished divine  among  his  heirlooms,  is  associ- 
ated with  a  premonition  which  saved  the  life  of  a 
lady  and  her  cousin,  the  wives  of  two  Church  of 
England  ministers.  They  had  intended  to  sail  in 
the  Pegasus  on  Wednesday,  but  a  mysterious  and 
unaccountable  impression  compelled  one  of  the 
ladies  to  insist  that  they  should  leave  on  the  Satur- 
day. They  had  just  time  to  get  on  board,  and  so 
escaped  going  by  the  Pegasus  which  sailed  on  the 
following  Wednesday  and  was  wrecked,  only  two 
on  board  being  saved. 

Like  to  this  story,  in  so  far  as  it  records  her 
avoidance  of  an  accident  by  the  warning  of  a 
dream,  but  fortunately  not  resembling  it  in  its 
more  ghostly  detail,  is  the  story  told  in  Mrs. 


igo  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

Sidgwick's  paper  on  the  Evidence  for  Premoni- 
tions, on  the  authority  of  Mrs.  Raey,  of  99,  Hol- 
land Road,  Kensington.  She  dreamed  that  she 
was  driving  from  Mortlake  to  Roehampton.  She 
was  upset  in  her  carriage  close  to  her  sister's  house. 
She  forgot  about  her  dream,  and  drove  in  her 
carriage  from  Mortlake  to  her  sister's  house.  But 
just  as  they  were  driving  up  the  lane  the  horse 
became  very  restive.  Three  times  the  groom  had 
to  get  down  to  see  what  was  the  matter,  but  the 
third  time  the  dream  suddenly  occurred  to  her 
memory.  She  got  out  and  insisted  on  walking  to 
the  house.  He  drove  off  by  himself,  the  horse 
became  unmanageable,  and  in  a  few  moments  she 
came  upon  carriage,  horse,  and  groom,  all  in  a 
confused  mass,  just  as  she  had  seen  the  night 
befoie,  but  not  in  the  same  spot.  But  for  the 
dream  she  would  certainly  not  have  alighted  from 
the  carriage. 

The  Visions  of  an  Engine-Driver. 

In  the  same  paper  there  is  an  account  of  a  re- 
markable series  of  dreams  which  occurred  to  Mr. 
J.  W.  Skelton,  an  American  engine-driver,  which 
were  first  published  in  Chicago  in  1886.  Six  times 
his  locomotive  had  been  upset  at  high  speed,  and 
each  time  he  had  dreamed  of  it  two  nights  before, 
and  each  time  he  had  seen  exactly  the  place  and 
the  side  on  which  the  engine  turned  over.  The 
odd  thing  in  his  reminiscences  is  that  on  one  occa- 
sion he  dreamed  that  atter  he  had  been  thrown  off 
the  line  a  person  in  white  came  down  from  the  sky 
with  a  span  of  white  horses  and  a  black  chariot, 


PREMONITIONS  AND  SECOND  SIGHT      191 

who  picked  him  off  the  engine  and  drove  him  up 
to  the  sky  in  a  south-easterly  direction.  In  telling 
the  story  he  says  that  every  point  was  fulfilled 
excepting  that — and  he  seems  to  regard  it  quite  as 
a  grievance — the  chariot  of  his  vision  never 
arrived.  On  one  occasion  only  his  dream  was  not 
fulfilled,  and  in  that  case  he  believed  the  accident 
was  averted  solely  through  the  extra  precaution 
that  he  used  in  consequence  of  his  vision. 

Wanted  a  Dream   Diary. 

Of  premonitions,  especially  of  premonitions  in 
dreams,  it  is  easy  to  have  too  much.  The  best 
antidote  for  an  excessive  surfeit  of  such  things 
is  to  note  them  down  when  they  occur.  When  you 
have  noted  down  100  dreams,  and  find  that  one 
has  come  true,  you  may  effectively  destroy  the 
superstitious  dread  that  is  apt  to  be  engendered 
by  stories  such  as  the  foregoing.  It  would  be  one 
excellent  result  of  the  publication  of  this  volume 
if  all  those  who  are  scared  abotit  dreams  and 
forebodings  would  take  the  trouble  to  keep  a  dream 
diary,  noting  the  dream  and  the  fulfilment  or 
falsification  following.  By  these  means  they  can 
not  only  confound  sceptics,  who  accuse  them  of 
prophesying  after  the  event,  but  what  is  much 
more  important,  they  can  most  speedily  rid  them- 
selves of  the  preposterous  delusion  that  all  dreams 
alike,  whether  they  issue  from  the  ivory  gate  or  the 
gate  of  horn,  are  equally  to  be  held  in  reverence. 
A  quantitative  estimate  of  the  value  of  dreams  is 
one  of  those  things  for  which  psychical  science  still 
sighs  in  vain. 


i94  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

Tontschkoff  three  months  before  Napoleon's  In- 
vasion. The  countess,  whose  husband  was  a  general 
in  the  Russian  army,  dreamed  that  her  father  came 
to  the  room,  holding  her  only  son  by  the  hand,  and, 
in  a  tone  of  great  sadness,  said,  "  All  thy  comforts 
are  gone  ;  thy  husband  has  fallen  at  Borodino." 
As  her  husband  at  that  time  was  sleeping  beside 
her  she  dismissed  the  matter  as  a  mere  dream. 
But  when  it  was  repeated  a  second  and  a  third 
time,  she  awoke  her  husband  and  asked  him 
where  Borodino  was.  She  told  him  her  dream,  and 
they  searched  through  the  maps  with  the  greatest 
care,  but  could  not  discover  any  such  place.  Three 
months  later  Napoleon  entered  Russia,  and  fought 
the  bloody  battle  which  opened  the  way  to  Moscow 
near  the  river  Borodino,  from  which  an  obscure 
village  takes  its  name.  Her  father  holding  her  son 
by  the  hand,  announced  her  husband's  death,  in 
the  exact  terms  that  she  had  heard  him  use  in  her 
dream  three  months  before.  She  instantly  recog- 
nised the  inn  in  which  she  was  then  staying  as  the 
place  that  she  had  seen  in  her  dream. 

Goethe's  Grandfather. 

Goethe,  in  his  Autobiography,  records  the  fact 
that  his  maternal  grandfather  had  a  premonition 
of  his  election  to  the  alder  manic  dignity,  not 
unlike  that  which  I  had  about  my  premotion  to 
the  Pall  Mall.  Goethe  writes  : — 

"  We  knew  well  enough  that  he  was  often  in- 
formed, in  remarkable  dreams,  of  things  which 
were  to  happen.  For  example,  he  assured  his  wife, 
at  a  time  when  he  was  still  one  of  the  youngest 


PREMONITIONS  AND  SECOND  SIGHT      195 

magistrates,  that  at  the  very  next  vacancy  he 
should  be  appointed  to  a  seat  on  the  board  of 
aldermen.    And  when,  very  soon  after,  one  of  the 
aldermen  was  struck  with  a  fatal  stroke  of  apop- 
lexy, he  ordered  that  on  the  day  when  the  choice 
was  to  be  made  by  lot  the  house  should  be  arranged 
and  everything  prepared  to  receive  the  guests 
coming  to  congratulate  him  on  his  elevation  ;  and, 
sure  enough,  it  was  for  him  that  the  golden  ball 
was  drawn  which  decides  the  choice  of  aldermen  in 
Frankfort.    The  dream  which  foreshadowed  to  him 
this  event  he  confided  to  his  wife  as  follows  :   He 
found  himself  in  session  with  his  colleagues,  and 
everything  was  going  on  as  usual,  when  an  alder- 
man, the  same  who  afterwards  died,  descended 
from  his  seat,  came  to  my  grandfather,  politely 
begged  him  to  take  his  place,  and  then  left  the 
chamber.     Something  similar  happened  on  the 
provost's  death.     It  was  usual  in  such  cases  to 
make  great  haste  to  fill  the  vacancy,  seeing  that 
there  was  always  ground  to  fear  that  the  Emperor, 
who  used  to  nominate  the  provost,  would  some 
day  or  other  reassert  his  ancient  privilege.     On 
this  particular  occasion  the  sheriff  received  orders 
at  midnight  to  call  an  extra  session  for  the  next 
morning.    When  in  his  rounds  the  officer  reached 
my  grandfather's  house,  he  begged  for  another  bit 
of  candle  to  replace  that  which  had  just  burned 
down  in  his  lantern.    '  Give  him  a  whole  candle/ 
said  my  grandfather  to  the  woman  ;   '  it  is  for  me 
he  is  taking  all  this  trouble/     The  event  justified 
his  words.    He  was  actually  chosen  provost.    And 
it  is  worthy  of  notice  that  the  person  who  drew 


i94  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

Tontschkoff  three  months  before  Napoleon's  In- 
vasion. The  countess,  whose  husband  was  a  general 
in  the  Russian  army,  dreamed  that  her  father  came 
to  the  room,  holding  her  only  son  by  the  hand,  and, 
in  a  tone  of  great  sadness,  said,  "  All  thy  comforts 
are  gone  ;  thy  husband  has  fallen  at  Borodino/' 
As  her  husband  at  that  time  was  sleeping  beside 
her  she  dismissed  the  matter  as  a  mere  dream. 
But  when  it  was  repeated  a  second  and  a  third 
time,  she  awoke  her  husband  and  asked  him 
where  Borodino  was.  She  told  him  her  dream,  and 
they  searched  through  the  maps  with  the  greatest 
care,  but  could  not  discover  any  such  place.  Three 
months  later  Napoleon  entered  Russia,  and  fought 
the  bloody  battle  which  opened  the  way  to  Moscow 
near  the  river  Borodino,  from  which  an  obscure 
village  takes  its  name.  Her  father  holding  her  son 
by  the  hand,  announced  her  husband's  death,  in 
the  exact  terms  that  she  had  heard  him  use  in  her 
dream  three  months  before.  She  instantly  recog- 
nised the  inn  in  which  she  was  then  staying  as  the 
place  that  she  had  seen  in  her  dream. 

Goethe's  Grandfather. 

Goethe,  in  his  Autobiography,  records  the  fact 
that  his  maternal  grandfather  had  a  premonition 
of  his  election  to  the  aldermanic  dignity,  not 
unlike  that  which  I  had  about  my  premotion  to 
the  Pall  Mall.  Goethe  writes  : — 

"  We  knew  well  enough  that  he  was  often  in- 
formed, in  remarkable  dreams,  of  things  which 
were  to  happen.  For  example,  he  assured  his  wife, 
at  a  time  when  he  was  still  one  of  the  youngest 


PREMONITIONS  AND  SECOND  SIGHT      195 

magistrates,  that  at  the  very  next  vacancy  he 
should  be  appointed  to  a  seat  on  the  board  of 
aldermen.  And  when,  very  soon  after,  one  of  the 
aldermen  was  struck  with  a  fatal  stroke  of  apop- 
lexy, he  ordered  that  on  the  day  when  the  choice 
was  to  be  made  by  lot  the  house  should  be  arranged 
and  everything  prepared  to  receive  the  guests 
coming  to  congratulate  him  on  his  elevation  ;  and, 
sure  enough,  it  was  for  him  that  the  golden  ball 
was  drawn  which  decides  the  choice  of  aldermen  in 
Frankfort.  The  dream  which  foreshadowed  to  him 
this  event  he  confided  to  his  wife  as  follows  :  He 
found  himself  in  session  with  his  colleagues,  and 
everything  was  going  on  as  usual,  when  an  alder- 
man, the  same  who  afterwards  died,  descended 
from  his  seat,  came  to  my  grandfather,  politely 
begged  him  to  take  his  place,  and  then  left  the 
chamber.  Something  similar  happened  on  the 
provost's  death.  It  was  usual  in  such  cases  to 
make  great  haste  to  fill  the  vacancy,  seeing  that 
there  was  always  ground  to  fear  that  the  Emperor, 
who  used  to  nominate  the  provost,  would  some 
day  or  other  reassert  his  ancient  privilege.  On 
this  particular  occasion  the  sheriff  received  orders 
at  midnight  to  call  an  extra  session  for  the  next 
morning.  When  in  his  rounds  the  officer  reached 
my  grandfather's  house,  he  begged  for  another  bit 
of  candle  to  replace  that  which  had  just  burned 
down  in  his  lantern.  '  Give  him  a  whole  candle/ 
said  my  grandfather  to  the  woman  ;  '  it  is  for  me 
he  is  taking  all  this  trouble/  The  event  justified 
his  words.  He  was  actually  chosen  provost.  And 
it  is  worthy  of  notice  that  the  person  who  drew 


196  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

in  his  stead,  having  the  third  and  last  chance, 
the  two  silver  balls  were  drawn'first,  and  thus  the 
golden  one  remained  for  him  at^the  bottom  of  the 
bag/'  (Quoted  by  Owen,  in  "  Footfalls  on  the 
Boundary  of  Another  World/') 

Miss  X.'s  Dogcart. 

Some  people  have  this  gift  of  seeing  in  advance 
very  much  developed.  There  is,  for  instance,  Miss 
X—  --,  of  the  Psychical  Research  Society,  whose 
exploits  in  seeing  a  dogcart  and  its  passengers  half 
an  hour  before  they  really  arrived,  has  taken  its 
place  as  the  classical  illustration  of  this  fantastic 
faculty  of  intermittent  foresight.  As  the  story  is 
so  well  authenticated,  and  has  become  a  leading 
case  in  the  discussion,  I  reprint  the  passage  in 
which  it  occurs  from  the  "  Proceedings  of  the 
Psychical  Research  Society/' 

The  narrative  is  by  a  friend  of  the  recipient : — 

"  About  eight  years  ago  (April,  1882),  X.  and  I 
were  staying  in  a  country  house,  in  a  neighbour- 
hood quite  strange  to  us  both.  One  morning,  soon 
after  our  arrival,  we  drove  with  a  party  of  four  or 
five  others  in  a  waggonette  to  the  neighbouring 
town,  and,  on  our  return,  as  we  came  in  sight  of 
the  house,  X.  remarked  to  our  hostess,  '  You  have 
very  early  visitors  ;  who  are  your  friends  ?  ' 

"  We  all  turned  to  find  the  cause  of  the  question, 
but  could  see  no  one,  and  as  we  were  still  in  view 
of  the  front  door  on  which  Miss  X/s  eyes  were 
fixed,  we  asked  her  what  she  could  possibly  be 
dreaming  of.  She  then  described  to  us,  the  more 
minutely  that  we  all  joined  in  absolute  denial  of 


PREMONITIONS  AND  SECOND  SIGHT      197 

the  existence  of  anything  at  all,  the  appearance 
of  a  dog-cart  standing  at  the  door  of  the  house  with 
a  white  horse  and  two  men,  one  of  whom  had  got 
down  and  was  talking  to  a  terrier  ;  she  even  com- 
mented upon  the  dress  of  one  of  the  gentlemen, 
who  was  wearing  an  ulster,  she  said,  a  detail  which 
we  certainly  should  not  have  supposed  it  possible 
for  her  to  recognise  at  such  a  distance  from  the 
spot.  As  we  drove  up  the  drive  X.  drew  attention 
to  the  fresh  wheel  marks,  but  here  also  we  were  all 
unable  to  see  as  she  did,  and  when  we  arrived  at 
the  house  and  found  no  sign  of  cart  and  visitors, 
and  on  inquiry  learned  that  no  one  had  been  near 
in  our  absence,  we  naturally  treated  the  whole  story 
as  a  mistake,  caused  by  X.'s  somewhat  short  sight. 

"  Shortly  after  she  and  I  were  in  an  upstairs 
room  in  the  front  of  the  house,  when  the  sound  of 
wheels  was  heard,  and  I  went  to  the  window  to  see 
what  it  might  be.  '  There's  your  dog-cart,  after 
all !  '  I  exclaimed  ;  for  there  before  the  door  was 
the  identical  dog-cart  as  X.  had  described  it, 
correct  in  every  detail,  one  of  the  gentlemen- 
having  got  down  to  ring  the  ball — being  at  the 
moment  engaged  in  playing  with  a  small  fox- 
terrier.  The  visitors  were  strangers  to  our  friends 
—officers  from  the  barracks  near,  who  had  driven 
over  with  an  invitation  to  a  ball. 

"  C.  having  read  over  D.'s  account,  had  added, 
'  This  is  substantially  the  same  account  as  I  heard 
from  one  of  the  party  in  the  carriage/  Mr.  Myers 
adds,  '  I  heard  C.,  an  old  family  servant,  tell  the 
story  independently  with  the  same  details.' 

"  Both  D.  and  I  were  surprised  at  her  accurate 


198  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

knowledge  of  the  story,  which  she  had  not  learnt 
from  us,  but  from  another  lady  present  on  the 
occasion."  ("  Proceedings  of  the  Psychical  Re- 
search Society/  Vol.  VI.  p.  374.) 


PART  V. 

GHOSTS  OF  THE  LIVING  ON  BUSINESS. 


"  'A  strange  coincidence,'  to  use  a  phrase 

By  which  such  things  are  settled  nowadays." — BYRON. 


CHAPTER  I. 
WARNINGS  OF  PERII,  AND  DEATH. 

IT  is  said  that  every  family  has  a  skeleton  in 
its  cupboard.  It  would  be  equally  true  to  say  that 
every  family  has  a  ghost  in  its  records.  Sometimes 
it  is  a  ghost  of  the  living,  sometimes  of  the  dead ; 
but  there  are  few  who,  if  they  inquire  among  their 
relatives,  will  not  find  one  or  more  instances  of 
apparitions,  which,  however  small  their  evidential 
credentials,  are  implicitly  accepted  as  genuine  by 
those  who  witnessed  them.  In  taking  the  Census 
of  Hallucinations  I  made  inquiry  of  an  old  school- 
fellow of  mine,  who,  after  I  came  to  Wimbledon, 
was  minister  of  the  Congregational  Church  in  that 
suburb.  He  subsequently  removed  to  Portsmouth, 
where  I  found  him  with  his  father  one  morning, 
on  the  occasion  of  the  laying  of  the  foundation- 
stone  of  the  new  Sunday  school.  On  mentioning 
the  subject  of  the  Census  of  Ghosts,  the  Rev,  Mr. 


200  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

Talbot,  senior,  mentioned  a  very  remarkable 
apparition  which,  unlike  most  apparitions,  ap- 
peared in  time  to  save  the  life  of  its  owner. 

How  a  Double  Saved  a  Life. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Talbot,  the  father  of  my  late 
pastor,  gave  me  the  following  account  of  the 
apparition  :— 

"  My  mother  had  an  extraordinary  power  of 
foreseeing  and  also  of  seeing  visions.  Of  her  pre- 
monitions and  dreams  I  could  give  you  many 
instances  ;  but  as  that  is  not  the  point  at  present,  I 
will  give  you  the  narrative  of  her  other  faculty, 
that  of  seeing  spiritual  or  phantasmal  forms  which 
were  not  visible  to  others.  We  were  sitting  at  tea 
one  evening  when  my  mother  suddenly  exclaimed, 
*  Dear  me,  Mrs.  Lister  is  coming  up  the  path,  with 
her  handkerchief  to  her  eyes  as  if  crying,  on  her 
way  to  the  door.  What  can  have  brought  her 
out  at  this  time  ?  There  seems  to  be  something 
the  matter  with  her  head.  I  will  go  to  the  door 
and  let  her  in/  So  saying,  my  mother  arose  and 
went  to  the  front  door,  where  she  firmly  expected 
to  find  Mrs.  Lister.  None  of  the  rest  of  us  had  seen 
Mrs.  Lister  come  up  the  path,  but  as  our  attention 
might  have  been  occupied  in  another  direction  we 
did  not  think  anything  of  it.  To  my  mother's 
astonishment,  when  she  reached  the  door  Mrs. 
Lister  was  not  visible.  She  came  back  into  the 
room  much  disturbed.  '  There  is  something  the 
matter  with  Mrs.  Lister/  she  said.  '  I  am  certain 
there  is.  Yoke  the  horse  and  we  will  drive  over 
at  once  to  the  Listers'  house — which  stood  about 


GHOSTS  OF  THE  IRVING  ON  BUSINESS    201 

one  mile  from  our  place— and  see  what  is  the 
matter.' 

'  My  father,  knowing  from  of  old  that  mother 
had  reason  for  what  she  said,  yoked  the  horse  and 
drove  off  with  my  mother  as  rapidly  as  possible 
to  lister's  house.  When  they  arrived  there  they 
knocked  at  the  door ;  there  was  no  answer. 
Opening  the  door  they  found  no  one  downstairs. 
My  mother  then  went  to  Mrs.  Lester's  bedroom  and 
found  the  unfortunate  lady,  apparently  breathing 
her  last,  lying  in  a  pool  of  blood.  Her  husband, 
in  a  fit  of  insanity,  had  severely  beaten  her  and 
left  her  for  dead,  and  then  went  and  drowned 
himself  in  a  pond. 

11  My  father  immediately  went  off  for  a  doctor, 
who  was  able  to  stitch  up  Mrs.  Lister's  worst 
wounds  and  arrest  the  bleeding.  In  the  end  Mrs. 
Lister  recovered,  owing  her  life  entirely  to  the 
fortunate  circumstance  that  at  the  moment  of 
losing  consciousness  she  had  apparently  been  able 
to  project  a  visual  phantasm  of  herself  before  the 
window  of  our  tea-room.  She  was  a  friend  of  my 
mother's,  and  no  doubt  in  her  dire  extremity  had 
longed  for  her  company.  This  longing  in  Mrs. 
Lister,  in  some  way  unknown  to  us,  probably 
produced  the  appearance  which  startled  my 
mother  and  led  to  her  prompt  appearance  on  the 
scene  of  the  tragedy." 

This  story  was  told  me  by  Mr.  Talbot,  who  was 
then  a  boy,  seated  at  the  table  at  which  his  mother 
witnessed  the  apparition,  and  was  regarded  by 
him  as  absolutely  true.  Evidence  in  support  of  it 
now  will  be  somewhat  difficult  to  get,  as  almost 


202  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

all  the  witnesses  have  passed  over  to  the  majority, 
but  I  have  no  reason  to  doubt  the  truth  of  the 
story. 

More  Doubles  Seeking  Help. 

The  story  of  Mrs.  Lister's  double  appearing  to 
Mrs.  Talbot  when  in  imminent  peril  of  death, 
however  it  may  be  scouted  by  the  sceptics,  is  at 
least  entirely  in  accord  with  many  other  narratives 
of  the  kind. 

A  member  of  the  Psychical  Research  Society  in 
Southport  sends  me  the  following  account  of  an 
apparition  of  a  severely  wounded  man,  which 
bears  considerable  resemblance  to  Mr.  Talbot's, 
although  its  evidential  value  is  nothing  like  so  good. 
Its  importance  rests  solely  in  the  fact  that  the 
apparition  appeared  as  the  result,  not  of  death, 
but  of  a  very  serious  injury  which  might  have  had 
fatal  consequences  :— 

"  Some  years  ago,  a  lady  named  L,.  B.  was 
staying  with  relations  at  Beckenham,  her  husband 
being  away  at  a  shooting  party  in  Essex.  On  a 
certain  afternoon,  when  she  had,  as  she  says,  no 
especial  reason  for  her  husband  being  recalled 
to  her  mind,  she  was  somewhat  surprised,  on 
looking  out  of  her  bedroom  window,  to  see  him,  as 
she  imagined,  entering  the  front  garden  gate. 
Wondering  what  could  have  been  the  cause  of  the 
unexpected  arrival,  she  exclaimed  to  her  sister- 
in-law,  '  Why,  there's  Tom  !  '  and  went  downstairs 
thinking  to  meet  him  entering  the  house.  He  was 
nowhere  to  be  seen.  Not  long  afterwards  there 
arrived  the  news  that  her  husband  had  been  shot 
accidentally  and  considerably  injured.  Directly 


GHOSTS  OF  THE  DIVING  ON  BUSINESS    203 

they  met  she  related  to  him  her  curious  vision, 
and  on  comparing  notes  it  was  discovered  that  it 
had  certainly  taken  place  more  or  less  at  the  same 
hour  as  the  accident,  the  husband  declaring  that 
as  he  fainted  away  his  wife  was  most  distinctly 
present  in  his  thoughts.  There  was,  unfortunately, 
no  means  of  exactly  fixing  the  hour,  but  there  was 
no  doubt  at  the  time  that  the  two  occurrences— 
viz.  the  hallucination  and  the  accident — must 
have  anyhow  taken  place  within  a  short  time  of 
one  another,  if  not  simultaneously/' 

Here  we  have  an  incident  not  unlike  that  which 
occurred  to  Mrs.  Talbot — the  unexpected  appari- 
tion of  the  phantasm  or  dual  body  of  one  who  at 
the  moment  was  in  imminent  danger  of  death. 
Tales  of  this  class  are  somewhat  rare,  but  when 
they  do  occur  they  indicate  conclusively  that  there 
is  no  connection  between  the  apparition  of  the 
wraith  and  the  decease  of  the  person  to  whom  it 
belongs. 

Here  is  another  story  that  is  sent  me  by  a 
correspondent  in  Belsize  Park  Gardens,  who 
vouches  for  the  bona  fides  of  the  lady  on  whose 
authority  he  tells  the  tale  : — 

"  A  Scotch  waitress  in  my  employ,  whilst  laying 
the  cloth  for  dinner  one  day,  was  startled  by  per- 
ceiving her  father's  face  looking  at  her  through  the 
window.  She  rushed  out  of  the  room  and  opened 
the  front  door,  expecting  to  see  him.  Greatly 
surprised  at  finding  no  trace  of  him,  after  carefully 
searching  the  front  garden,  and  looking  up  anc 
down  the  road,  she  came  in,  and  sitting  down  in  the 
hall  nearly  fainted  with  fright.  On  inquiring 


204  RBAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

for  particulars  she  told  me  she  had  distinctly  seen 
her  father's  face,  with  a  distressed  expression  upon 
it,  looking  earnestly  at  her.  She  seemed  much 
troubled,  and  felt  sure  something  was  wrong.  A 
few  days  after  this  vision  a  letter  came,  saying  that 
her  father  (a  Scotch  gamekeeper)  had  been  thrown 
from  a  dog-cart  and  nearly  killed.  She  left  my 
employ  to  go  and  nurse  him/' 

Two  Doubles  Summon  a  Priest  to  Their  Deathbeds. 

The  next  narrative  should  rather  have  come 
under  the  head  of  premonitions,  but  as  the  pre- 
monition in  this  case  was  accompanied  by  an 
apparition,  I  include  it  in  the  present  chapter. 
It  is,  in  its  way,  even  more  remarkable  than  Mr. 
Talbot's  story.  It  is  more  recent,  it  is  prophetic, 
and  the  apparitions  of  two  living  men  appeared 
together  to  predict  the  day  of  their  death.  The 
narrative  rests  on  the  excellent  authority  of  the 
Rev.  Father  Fleming,  the  hard-working  Catholic 
priest  of  Slindon,  in  Sussex.  I  heard  of  it  from 
one  of  his  parishioners  who  is  a  friend  of  mine,  and 
on  applying  to  Father  Fleming,  he  was  kind  enough 
to  write  out  the  following  account  of  his  strange 
experience,  for  the  truth  of  every  word  of  which  he 
is  prepared  to  vouch.  In  all  the  wide  range  of 
spectral  literature  I  know  no  story  that  is  quite 
like  this  : — 

"  I  was  spending  my  usual  vacation  in  Dublin 
in  the  year  1868,  I  may  add  very  pleasantly,  since 
I  was  staying  at  the  house  of  an  old  friend  of  my 
father's,  and  whilst  there  was  treated  with  the 
attention  which  is  claimed  by  an  honoured  guest, 


GHOSTS  OF  THE  LIVING  ON  BUSINESS    205 

and  with  as  much  kindness  and  heartiness  as  if  I 
were  a  member  of  his  family.  I  was  perfectly 
comfortable,  perfectly  at  home.  As  to  my  pro- 
fessional engagements,  I  was  free  for  the  whole 
time  of  my  holiday,  and  could  not  in  any  manner 
admit  a  scruple  or  doubt  as  to  the  manner  in  which 
my  work  was  done  in  my  absence,  for  a  fully  quali- 
fied and  earnest  clergyman  was  supplying  for  me. 
Perhaps  this  preamble  is  necessary  to  show  that 
my  mind  was  at  rest,  and  that  nothing  in  the 
ordinary  course  of  events  would  have  recalled  me 
so  suddenly  and  abruptly  to  the  scene  of  my 
labours  at  Woolwich.  I  had  about  a  week  of  my 
unexpired  leave  of  absence  yet  to  run  when  what  I 
am  about  to  relate  occurred  to  me.  No  comment 
or  explanation  is  offered.  It  is  simply  a  narrative. 
'  I  had  retired  to  rest  at  night,  my  mind  per- 
fectly at  rest,  and  slept,  as  young  men  do  in  robust 
health,  until  about  four  o'clock  in  the  morning. 
It  appeared  to  me  about  that  hour  that  I  was 
conscious  of  a  knock  at  the  door.  Thinking  it  to 
be  the  man-servant  who  was  accustomed  to  call 
me  in  the  morning,  I  at  once  said,  "  Come  in.' 
To  my  surprise  there  appeared  at  the  foot  of  the 
bed  two  figures,  one  a  man  of  medium  height, 
fair  and  well  fleshed,  the  other  tall,  dark,  and 
spare,  both  dressed  as  artisans  belonging  to  Wool- 
wich Arsenal.  On  asking  them  what  they  wanted, 

the  shorter  man  replied,  '  My  name  is  C s.    I 

belong  to  Woolwich.    I  died  on of ,  and 

you  must  attend  me/ 

"  Probably  the  novelty  of  the  situation  and 
feelings  attendant  upon  it,  prevented  me  from 


206  REAL  GHOST  STORIES 

noticing  that  he  had  used  the  past  tense.  The 
reply  which  I  received  to  my  question  from  the 
other  man  was  like  in  form,  '  My  name  is  M—  —11, 

I  belong  to  Woolwich,  I  died  on  -     -  of ,  and 

you  must  attend  me/  I  then  remarked  that  the 
past  tense  had  been  used,  and  cried  out,  '  Stop  ! 
You  said  "  died,"  and  the  day  you  mentioned  has 
not  come  yet  ?  '  at  which  they  both  smiled,  and 
added,  '  We  know  this  very  well ;  it  was  done  to 
fix  your  attention,  but ' — and  they  seemed  to  say 
very  earnestly  and  in  a  marked  manner — you 
must  attend  us  !  "  at  which  they  disappeared, 
leaving  me  awe-stricken,  surprised,  and  thor- 
oughly aroused  from  sleep.  Whether  what  I 
narrate  was  seen  during  sleep,  or  when  wholly 
awake,  I  do  not  pretend  to  say.  It  appeared  to  me 
that  I  was  perfectly  awake  and  perfectly  conscious. 
Of  this  I  had  no  doubt  at  the  time,  and  I  can 
scarcely  summon  up  a  doubt  as  to  what  I  heard 
and  saw  whilst  I  am  telling  it.  As  I  had  lighted 
my  lamp,  I  rose,  dressed,  and  seating  myself  at  a 
table  in  the  room,  read  and  thought,  and,  I  need 
hardly  say,  from  time  to  time  prayed,  and  fer- 
vently, until  day  came.  When  I  was  called  in  the 
morning,  I  sent  a  message  to  the  lady  of  the  house 
to  say  that  I  should  not  go  to  the  University 
Chapel  to  say  Mass  that  morning,  and  should  be 
present  at  the  usual  family  breakfast  at  nine. 

"  On  entering  the  dining-room  my  hostess  very 
kindly  inquired  after  my  health,  naturally  sur- 
mising that  I  had  omitted  Mass  from  illness,  or  at 
least  want  of  rest  and  consequent  indisposition. 
I  merely  answered  that  I  had  not  slept  well,  and 


GHOSTS  OF  THE  LIVING  ON  BUSINESS    207 

that  there  was  something  weighing  heavily  upon 
my  mind  which  obliged  me  to  return  at  once  to 
Woolwich.  After  the  usual  regrets  and  leave- 
takings,  I  started  by  the  mid-day  boat  for  England. 
As  the  first  date  mentioned  by  my  visitors  gave 
me  time,  I  travelled  by  easy  stages,  and  spent  more 
than  two  days  on  the  road,  although  I  could  not 
remain  in  Dublin  after  I  had  received  what  ap- 
peared to  me  then,  and  appears  to  me  still,  as  a 
solemn  warning. 

"  On  my  arrival  at  Woolwich,  as  may  be  easily 
imagined,  my  brother  clergy  were  very  puzzled  at 
my  sudden  and  unlooked-for  return,  and  con- 
cluded that  I  had  lost  my  reckoning,  thinking 
that  I  had  to  resume  my  duties  a  week  earlier 
than  I  was  expected  to  do.  The  other  assistant 
priest  was  waiting  for  my  return  to  start  on  his 
vacation — and  he  did  so  the  very  evening  of  my 
return.  Scarcely,  however,  had  he  left  the  town 
when  the  first  of  my  visitors  sent  in  a  request  for 
me  to  go  at  once  to  attend  him.  You  may,  perhaps, 
imagine  my  feelings  at  that  moment.  I  am  sure 
you  cannot  realise  them  as  I  do  even  now  after  the 
lapse  of  so  many  years.  Well,  I  lost  no  time.  I 
had,  in  truth,  been  prepared,  except  hat  and 
umbrella,  from  the  first  hour  after  my  return.  I 
went  to  consult  the  books  in  which  all  the  sick- 
calls  were  entered  and  to  speak  to  our  aged, 
respected  sacristan  who  kept  them.  He  remarked 
at  once,  '  You  do  not  know  this  man,  father  ;  his 
children  come  to  our  school,  but  he  is,  or  has 
always  been,  considered  as  a  Protestant.'  Ex- 
pressing  my  surprise,  less  at  the  fact  than  at  his^J 


208  REAL  GHOST  STORIES 

statement,  I  hurried  to  the  bedside  of  the  sufferer. 
After  the  first  few  words  of  introduction  were  over 
he  said,  '  I  sent  for  you,  father,  on  Friday  morning 
early  and  they  told  me  that  you  were  away  from 
home,  but  that  you  were  expected  back  in  a  few 
days,  and  I  said  I  would  wait/  I  found  the  sick 
man  had  been  stricken  down  by  inflammation  of 
the  lungs,  and  that  the  doctor  gave  no  hope  of 
his  recovery,  yet  that  he  would  probably  linger 
some  days.  I  applied  myself  very  earnestly  in- 
deed to  prepare  the  poor  man  for  death.  Again 
the  next  day,  and  every  day  until  he  departed 
this  life,  did  I  visit  him  and  spent  not  minutes  but 
hours  by  his  bedside. 

"  A  few  days  after  the  first  summons  came  the 
second.  The  man  had  previously  been  a  stranger 
to  me,  but  I  recognised  him  by  his  name  and 
appearance.  As  I  sat  by  his  bedside  he  told  me, 
as  the  former  had  already  done,  that  he  had  sent 
for  me,  had  been  told  that  I  was  absent,  and  had 
declared  that  he  would  wait  for  me.  Thus  far  their 
cases  were  alike.  In  each  case  there  \vas  a  great 
wrong  to  be  undone,  a  conscience  to  be  set  right 
that  had  erred  and  erred  deeply — and  not  merely 
that,  it  is  probable,  from  the  circumstances  of 
their  lives,  that  it  was  necessary  that  their  spiritual 
adviser  should  have  been  solemnly  warned.  They 
made  their  peace  with  God,  and  I  have  seldom 
assisted  at  a  deathbed  and  felt  greater  consolation 
than  I  did  in  each  and  both  of  these.  Even  now, 
after  the  lapse  of  many  years,  I  cannot  help  feeling 
that  I  received  a  very  solemn  warning  in  Dublin, 
and  am  not  far  wrong  in  calling  it,  the  Shadow  of 
Death.— T.  O.  FLEMING." 


GHOSTS  OF  THE  LIVING  ON  BUSINESS   209 

A  Double  From  Shipboard. 

During  my  visit  to  vScotland  in  the  month 
of  October  the  subject  of  Ghosts  naturally 
formed  the  constant  topic  of  conversation,  and 
many  stories  were  told  of  all  degrees  of  value 
bearing  upon  the  subject.  The  following  narrative 
came  to  me  as  follows  :  We  had  been  visiting  the 
Forth  Bridge,  driving  down  from  Edinburgh  in  the 
public  conveyance.  Shortly  before  our  visit  three 
men  had  fallen  from  one  of  the  piers  of  the  bridge 
and  been  killed.  The  question  was  mooted  as  to 
whether  or  not  they  would  haunt  the  locality,  and 
from  this  the  conversation  naturally  turned  to 
apparitions  of  all  kinds. 

As  we  reached  Edinburgh  on  our  return  a 
middle-aged  passenger  who  had  been  seated  on  a 
seat  in  front  turned  round  and  said,  "  What  do 
you  make  of  this  story,  for  the  truth  of  which  I 
can  vouch  : — A  young  sailor,  whose  vessel  at 
that  moment  was  lying  at  Limerick  Harbour,  ap- 
peared to  his  father,  who  at  that  time  was  at  home 
with  the  rest  of  his  family  in  Dublin.  He  appeared 
to  him  in  the  early  morning.  At  breakfast  his 
father  told  the  rest  of  his  family  that  he  had  seen 
his  son,  who  had  said  to  him  :  '  In  my  locker  you 
will  find  a  Bible  in  the  pocket  of  my  coat.  In  that 
Bible  you  will  find  a  place-keeper  which  was  given 
me  by  my  sweetheart  after  I  left  home,  and  on  it 
are  the  words,  "  Remember  me/'  That  day  at 
noon  the  young  sailor,  after  making  ready  dinner 
for  the  crew,  went  up  aloft,  missed  his  footing, 
fell,  and  was  killed.  His  effects  were  fastened  up 
in  his  locker  and  sent  through  the  Customs  House 

N 


210  REAL  GHOST  STORIES 

to  his  father.  When  they  arrived  the  locker  was 
opened,  and  exactly  as  the  apparition  had  des- 
cribed the  Bible  was  found  in  the  pocket  of  the 
coat,  and  in  the  Bible  a  place-keeper,  which  none 
of  the  family  had  seen,  on  which  were  the  words 
'  Remember  me.'  "  But,"  said  I  to  my  fellow- 
passenger,  "  how  do  you  know  that  the  story  is 
true  ?  '  "  Because/'  he  said,  "  the  sailor  was  my 
brother,  and  I  remember  my  father  telling  us  about 
the  vision  at  the  breakfast-table." 

Unfortunately  I  did  not  ask  for  the  name  and 
address  of  my  informant.  We  were  just  alighting 
from  the  drag,  and  I  contented  myself  with  giving 
him  my  name  and  address,  and  asking  him  to  write 
out  an  account  with  full  particulars,  dates,  etc. 
with  verification.  This  he  promised  to  do,  but, 
unfortunately,  he  seems  to  have  forgotten  his 
promise,  and  a  story  which,  if  fully  verified,  would 
be  very  valuable,  can  only  be  mentioned  as  a 
sample  of  the  narratives  which  are  reported  on 
every  hand  if  people  show  any  disposition  to 
receive  them  with  interest,  or,  in  fact,  with  any- 
thing but  scornful  contempt. 


CHAPTER  II. 
A   DYING   DOUBLE   DEMANDS   ITS   PORTRAITS  ! 

^  PERHAPS  the  most  remarkable  and  most  authen- 
tic ghost  is  a  ghost  which  appeared  at  Newcastle, 
for  the  purpose  of  demanding  its  photographs  ! 
The  story  was  first  told  me  by  the  late  secretary 
of  the  Bradford  Association  of  Helpers,  Mr.  Snow- 
den  Ward.  I  subsequently  obtained  it  first  hand 
from  the  man  who  saw  the  ghost.  Running  from 
the  central  railway  station  at  Newcastle,  a  broad 
busy  thoroughfare  connects  Neville  Street  with 
Grainger  Street.  On  one  side  stands  St.  John's 
Church,  on  the  other  the  Savings  Bank,  and  a 
little  past  the  Savings  Bank,  proceeding  from  the 
station,  stand  the  shops  and  offices  of  Grainger 
Street.  It  is  a  comparatively  new  street,  and  is 
quite  one  of  the  last  places  in  the  world  where  ore 
would  expect  to  find  visitants  of  a  ghostly  nature. 
Nevertheless,  it  was  in  one  of  the  places  of  business 
in  this  busy  and  bustling  thoroughfare  that  the 
ghost  in  question  appeared,  for  that  it  did  appear 
there  can  be  no  manner  of  doubt.  Even  if  all  the 
^ther  cases  published  in  this  book  were  discarded 
as  lacking  in  evidential  value,  this  would  of  itself 
suffice  to  establish  the  fact  that  apparitions  appear, 
for  the  circumstances  are  such  as  to  preclude  the 
adoption  of  any  of  the  usual  hypotheses  to  account 
for  the  apparition.  I  called  upon  Mr.  Dickinson 
at  43,  Grainger  Street,  on  October  14th,  examined 


212  REAL  GHOST  STORIES 

his  premises,  was  shown  the  entry  in  his  book,  and 
cross-examined  himself  and  Miss  Simon,  the  lady 
clerk,  who  figures  in  the  subsequent  narrative. 
It  will  probably  be  best  to  reprint  the  statement, 
which  originally  appeared  in  the  Practical  Photo- 
grapher, merely  filling  in  names  and  supplementing 
it  here  and  there  with  a  little  more  detail  :— 

"  On  Saturday,  the  3rd  of  January  this  year," 
said  Mr.  Dickinson,  "  I  arrived  at  my  place  of 
business,  43,  Grainger  Street,  Newcastle,  a  few 
minutes  before  8  a.m.  The  outer  door  is  protected 
by  an  iron  gate  in  which  is  a  smaller  lock-up  gate, 
through  which  I  passed  into  the  premises.  Having 
opened  the  office  and  turned  the  gas  on  at  the  meter, 
and  lit  the  gas  fire,  I  stood  at  the  office  counter 
for  a  few  minutes  waiting  for  the  lad  who  takes 
down  the  iron  gate  at  the  front  door." 

Mr.  Dickinson  told  me  that  the  reason  he  was 
down  so  early  was  because  the  lad  who  usually 
brought  the  keys  was  ill,  and  he  had  come  earlier 
than  usual  on  that  account.  The  place  is  lit  with 
electric  light.  Mr.  Dickinson  does  not  remember 
turning  on  the  light,  although,  as  it  was  only  eight 
o'clock  on  the  3rd  of  January,  he  must  have  done 
so  in  order  to  read  the  entry  in  the  book. 

Before  the  lad  came,  a  gentleman  called  to 
inquire  if  his  photographs  were  finished. 

He  was  a  stranger  to  him.  He  came  into  the 
room  and  came  up  to  the  counter  in  the  ordinary 
way.  He  was  wearing  a  hat  and  overcoat,  and 
there  was  nothing  unusual  about  his  appearance 
excepting  that  he  did  not  seem  very  well.  "He 
said  to  me,  '  Are  my  photographs  ready  ?  '  I 


GHOSTS  OF  THE  IRVING  ON  BUSINESS    213 

said,  '  Who  are  you  ?  We  are  not  opened  yet/ 
He  said  his  name  was  Thompson.  I  asked  him  if 
he  had  the  receipt  (which  usually  accompanies 
any  inquiry),  and  he  replied  that  he  had  no  receipt, 
but  his  photograph  was  taken  on  December  6th 
and  that  the  prints  were  promised  to  be  sent  to 
him  before  this  call. 

"I  then  asked  him  whether  it  was  a  cash  order  or 
a  subscription  one.  The  reason  for  asking  this  is 
because  we  have  two  books  in  which  orders  are 
entered.  He  said  he  had  paid  for  them  at  the 
time  ;  his  name  would  therefore  be  in  the  cash 
orders.  Having  got  the  date  and  his  name,  I 
referred  to  my  book,  and  found  the  order  as  he 
stated.  I  read  out  to  him  the  name  and  address, 
to  which  he  replied,  '  That  is  right/ 

"Here  is  an  exact  copy  of  the  entry  in  the 
order  book  :— 

7976.  Sat.,  Dec.  6th,  /90. 

Mr.  J.  S.  Thompson, 

154,  William  vStreet,  Hebburn  Quay. 
6  cabinets.  7/-  pd. 

"  The  above  was  written  in  pencil ;  on  the  margin 
was  written  in  ink,  '  Dec.  16,'  which,  Mr.  Dickin- 
son explained,  is  the  date  on  which  the  negative 
came  to  the  office,  named  and  numbered,  and 
ready  to  go  to  the  printers. 

"  Below  this  again  was  written  in  ink. 

5th.— 3  Cabinets  gratis,  neg.  broken,  letter  sent 
asking  to  re-sit. 

"  In  my  book  I  found  a  date  given,  on  which  the 
negative  was  ready  to  be  put  into  the  printer's 
hands  ;  and  the  date  being  seventeen  days  pre- 


214  REAiv  GHOST  STORIES 

vious,  I  had  no  hesitation  in  saying,  '  Well,  if 
you  call  later  on  you  will  get  some  ;  '  and  I  called 
his  attention  to  the  fact  that  it  was  very  early, 
and  explained  to  him  that  the  employes  would  not 
be  at  work  until  nine  o'clock,  and  if  he  could  call 
after  that  time  he  would  be  certain  to  get  some 
of  his  photographs.  He  said  '  I  have  been  travel- 
ling all  night,  and  cannot  call  again/ 

"  Some  short  time  before  I  had  been  at  a 
hydropathic  establishment  in  Yorkshire,  and  had 
travelled  home  at  night.  When  he  said  he  had 
been  travelling  all  night,  I  remembered  my  own 
journey,  and  I  thought  perhaps  he  had  been  to 
some  hydropathic  establishment  to  benefit  his 
health  ;  and  finding  that  he  was  getting  no  better, 
he  had  come  back,  perhaps  to  die,  for  he  looked 
wretchedly  ill.  He  spoke  weariedly  and  rather 
impatiently,  when  he  said  he  could  not  call  again. 

"  With  that,  he  turned  abruptly  and  went  out. 
Anxious  to  retain  his  good-will,  I  shouted  after 
him,  '  Can  I  post  what  may  be  done  ?  '  but  I  got 
no  answer.  I  turned  once  more  to  the  book,  looked 
at  the  number,  and  on  a  slip  of  paper  wrote 
No.  7976,  Thompson,  post.  (This  I  wrote  with 
pen  and  ink,  and  have  the  paper  yet.)/' 

Mr.  Dickinson  said  he  had  handed  over  this 
piece  of  paper  to  a  representative  of  the  Psychical 
Research  Society  who  had  lost  it.  It  was,  however, 
a  mere  memorandum  written  on  the  back  of  a 
traveller's  card. 

"  At  nine  o'clock,  when  Miss  Simon  (clerk  and 
reception  room  attendant,  a  bright,  intelligent 
young  lady)  came,  I  handed  the  slip  of  paper  to  her, 


GHOSTS  OF  THE  LIVING  ON  BUSINESS   215 

and  asked  her  to  have  it  attended  to,  telling  her 
that  the  man  had  called  for  them,  and  seemed 
much  disappointed  that  he  had  not  received  them 
before.  Miss  Simon,  with  considerable  surprise, 
exclaimed,  '  Why,  an  old  man  called  about  these 
photographs  yesterday  (Friday),  and  I  told  him 
they  could  not  be  ready  this  week  owing  to  the 
bad  weather,  and  that  we  were  nearly  three  weeks 
behind  with  our  work/  I  suggested  that  it  was 
quite  time  Mr.  Thompson's  were  ready,  and  in- 
quired who  was  printing  the  order.  I  was  told 
that  it  was  not  in  print,  and,  pointing  to  a  pile 
of  negatives,  Miss  Simon  said  '  Thompson's  is 
amongst  that  lot,  and  they  have  been  waiting 
quite  a  fortnight/  I  asked  to  be  shown  the  nega- 
tive, and  about  half  an  hour  later  Miss  S.  called 
me  saying  '  This  is  Thompson's  negative/ 

"  I  took  it  in  my  hands  and  looked  at  it  care- 
fully, remarking,  '  Yes,  thaUs  it ;  that  is  the  chap 
who  called  this  morning/  ' 

Mr.  Dickinson  said  he  had  no  difficulty  in  recog- 
nising it,  although  the  man  wore  a  hat  and  top- 
coat when  he  called,  whereas  in  the  portrait  the 
sitter  wore  neither  hat  nor  top  coat. 

"  Miss  Simon  again  referred  to  the  fact  that  she 
had  told  the  man  who  had  called  on  the  previous 
day  that  none  were  done,  or  could  be  done  that 
week.  '  Well,'  I  said,  '  put  this  to  one  side,  and 
will  see  to  it  myself  on  Monday,  and  endeavour 
to  hurry  it  forward/  On  the  Monday  (January 
5th)  I  was  in  one  of  the  printing-rooms,  and  about 
10.30  a.m.,  having  one  or  two  printing-frames 
empty,  I  thought  of  Thompson's  negative,  and 


216  REAL  GHOST  STORIES 

accordingly  went  down  to  the  office  and  asked 
Miss  S.  for  it.  '  Oh  !  yes,'  she  replied,  '  and  here 
are  a  few  more  equally  urgent,  you  may  take  them 
as  well.'  I  said,  '  That  cannot  be,  as  I  have  only 
two  or  three  frames  at  liberty  '  (she  had  about 
twenty  negatives  in  her  hand,  holding  them  out 
to  me)  ;  '  give  me  Thompson's  first,  and  let  me 
get  my  mind  at  rest  about  it.'  To  which  she 
answered,  '  His  is  amongst  this  lot,  I  will  have 
to  pick  it  out.'  (Each  negative  was  in  a  paper 
bag.) 

"  I  offered  to  help  her,  and  she  commenced  at 
one  end  of  the  batch  and  I  at  the  other  ;  and 
before  we  got  halfway  through  I  came  across  one 
which  I  knew  was  very  urgent,  and  turned  away 
to  look  up  the  date  of  taking  it,  when  crash  !  went 
part  of  the  negatives  on  the  floor.  This  accident 
seemed  so  serious  that  I  was  almost  afraid  to  pick 
up  the  fallen  negatives,  but  on  doing  so,  one  by 
one,  I  was  greatly  relieved  to  find  only  one  was 
broken  ;  but,  judge  of  my  horror  to  find  that  that 
one  was  Thompson's  ! 

"  I  muttered  something  (not  loud,  but  deep), 
and  would  fain  have  relieved  my  feelings,  but  the 
presence  of  ladies  restrained  me  (this  accident 
being  witnessed  also  by  my  head  printer,  Miss  L.). 

'  I  could  not  honestly  blame  Miss  Simon  for 
this — each  thought  the  other  was  holding  the  lot, 
and  between  us  we  let  them  drop. 

'  The  negative  was  broken  in  two,  right  across 
the  forehead  of  figure.  I  put  the  pieces  carefully 
away,  and  taking  out  a  memo,  form,  wrote  to  Mr. 
Thompson,  asking  him  to  kindly  give  another 


GHOSTS  OF  THE  LIVING  ON  BUSINESS    217 

sitting,  and  offering  to  recoup  him  for  his  trouble 
and  loss  of  time.  This  letter  was  posted  five 
minutes  after  the  negative  was  broken,  and  the 
affair  was  forgotten  by  me  for  the  time. 

"  However,  on  Friday,  January  9th,  I  was  in 
the  printing-room  upstairs,  when  I  was  signalled 
by  the  whistle  which  communicates  with  the 
office,  and  Miss  Simon  asked  if  I  could  go  down, 
as  the  gentleman  had  called  about  the  negative. 
I  asked  '  What  negative  ?  '  '  Well/  she  replied, 
'  the  one  we  broke/ 

"  '  Mr.  Thompson's/  I  answered.  '  I  am  very 
busy  and  cannot  come  down,  but  you  know  the 
terms  I  offered  him  ;  send  him  up  to  be  taken 
at  once.' 

"  '  But  he  is  dead ! '  said  Miss  Simon. 

"  '  Dead  !  '  I  exclaimed,  and  without  another 
word  I  hastened  down  the  stairs  to  my  office.  Here 
I  saw  an  elderly  gentleman,  who  seemed  in  great 
trouble. 

"  '  Surely/  said  I  to  him,  '  you  don't  mean  to 
say  that  this  man  is  dead  ?  ' 

"  '  It  is  only  too  true/  he  replied. 

"  '  Well,  it  must  have  been  dreadfully  sudden/ 
I  said,  sympathetically,  "  because  I  saw  him  only 
last  Saturday.' 

"  The  old  gentleman  shook  his  head  sadly,  and 
said,  '  You  are  mistaken,  for  he  died  last  Satur- 
day/ 

"  '  Nay/  I  returned,  '  I  am  not  mistaken,  for  I 
recognised  him  by  the  negative/ 

"However,  the  father  (for  such  was  his  relation- 
ship to  my  sitter)  persisted  in  saying  I  was  mis- 


2i 8  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

taken,  and  that  it  was  he  who  called  on  the  Friday 
and  not  his  son,  and,  he  said,  '  I  saw  that  young 
lady  (pointing  to  Miss  Simon),  and  she  told  me 
the  photographs  would  not  be  ready  that  week/ 
'  That  is  quite  right/  said  Miss  Simon,  '  but 
Mr.  Dickinson  also  saw  a  gentleman  on  the  Satur- 
day morning,  and,  when  I  showed  Mr.  Dickinson 
the  negative,  he  said,  "  Yes,  that's  the  man  who 
called/'  I  told  Mr.  Dickinson  then  of  your  having 
called  on  the  Friday/ 

"  Still  Mr.  Thompson,  sen.,  seemed  to  think  that 
we  were  wrong,  and  many  questions  and  cross- 
questions  I  put  to  him  only  served  to  confirm 
him  in  his  opinion  that  I  had  got  mixed  ;  but 
this  he  said — no  one  was  authorised  to  call,  nor 
had  they  any  friend  or  relative  who  would  know 
of  the  portraits  being  ordered,  neither  was  there 
any  one  likely  to  impersonate  the  man  who  had 
sat  for  his  portrait. 

"  I  had  no  further  interview  with  the  old  gentle- 
man until  a  week  later,  when  he  was  much  calmer 
in  his  appearance  and  conversation,  and  at  this 
interview  he  told  me  that  his  son  died  on  Satur- 
day, January  3rd,  at  about  2.30  p.m.  ;  he  also 
stated  that  at  the  time  I  saw  him  (the  sitter)  he 
was  unconscious,  and  remained  so  up  to  the  time 
of  his  death.  I  have  not  had  any  explanation  of 
this  mysterious  visit  up  to  present  date,  February 
26th,  1891. 

"  It  is  curious  to  me  that  I  have  no  recollection 
of  hearing  the  man  come  upstairs,  or  of  him  going 
down.  In  appearance  he  was  pale  and  careworn, 
and  looked  as  though  he  fiad  been  very  ill.  This 


GHOSTS  OF  THE  IRVING  ON  BUSINESS    219 

thought  occurred  to  me  when  he  said  he  had  been 
travelling  all  night. 

JAMES  DICKINSON. 

43,  Grainger  Street,  Newcastle." 

Miss  Simon,  in  further  conversation  with  me, 
stated  that  when  the  father  called  on  Friday  night 
and  asked  for  the  photographs,  he  came  late,  at 
least  after  the  electric  light  was  lit.  He  seemed 
disappointed,  but  made  no  further  remark  when 
he  was  told  they  were  not  ready.  Mr.  Dickinson 
stated  that  in  conversation  with  the  father  after- 
wards, he  told  him  that  his  son,  on  the  Friday,  had 
been  delirious  and  had  cried  out  for  his  photo- 
graphs so  frequently  that  they  Had  tried  to  get 
them,  and  that  was  why  he  had  called  on  Friday 
night.  Hebburn  is  on  the  south  side  of  the  Tyne, 
about  four  miles  from  Newcastle.  The  father  was 
absolutely  certain  that  it  was  physically  impossible 
for  his  son  to  have  left  the  house.  He  did  not 
leave  it.  They  knew  the  end  was  approaching, 
and  he  and  his  wife  were  in  constant  attendance 
at  the  death-bed.  He  also  stated  that- it  was  im- 
possible, from  the  position  of  the  bedroom,  for  him 
to  have  left  the  house,  even  if  he  had  been  able 
to  get  out  of  bed  without  their  hearing  him.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  he  did  not  get  out  of  bed,  and  at  the 
moment  when  his  Double  was  talking  to  Mr.  Dickin- 
son in  Grainger  Street  he  was  lying  unconscious 
at  Hebburn. 

It  is  impossible  to  explain  this  on  the  theory  that 
Mr.  Dickinson  visualised  the  impression  left  upon 
his  mind  by  Mr.  Thompson,  for  Mr.  Dickinson 
had  never  seen  Mr.  Thompson  in  his  life.  Neither 


220  REAL  GHOST  STORIES 

could  be  have  given  apparent  objectivity  to  a 
photograph  which  he  might  possibly  have  seen, 
although  Mr.  Dickinson  asserts  that  he  had  never 
seen  the  photograph  until  it  was  brought  him  on 
the  Saturday  morning.  If  he  had  done  so  by  any 
chance  he  would  not  have  fitted  his  man  with  a 
top-coat  and  hat.  It  cannot,  therefore,  be  re- 
garded as  a  subjective  hallucination  ;  besides,  the 
evidence  afforded  by  the  looking  up  of  the  book, 
the  making  an  entry  of  what  occurred,  and  the 
conversation  which  took  place,  in  which  the  visitor 
mentioned  facts  which  were  not  present  in  Mr. 
Dickinson's  own  mind,  but  which  he  verified  there 
and  then  by  looking  up  his  books,  bring  it  as  near 
certainty  as  it  is  possible  to  arrive  in  a  case  such  as 
this.  Whoever  the  visitor  was,  it  was  not  a  sub- 
jective hallucination  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Dickinson. 

It  is  equally  impossible  to  believe  that  it  was 
the  actual  Mr.  Thompson,  because  he  was  at  that 
moment  within  six  hours  of  death,  and  the  evi- 
dence of  his  father  is  that  his  son  at  that  moment 
was  physically  incapable  of  getting  out  of  bed, 
and  that  he  was  actually  lying  unconscious  before 
their  eyes  at  Hebburn  at  the  moment  when  his 
apparition  was  talking  to  Mr.  Dickinson  at  New- 
castle. The  only  other  hypothesis  that  can  be 
brought  forward  is  that  some  one  personated 
Thompson.  Against  this  we  have  the  fact  that 
Mr.  Dickinson,  who  had  never  seen  Thompson, 
recognised  him  immediately  as  soon  as  he  saw 
the  negative  of  his  portrait. 

Further,  if  any  one  had  come  from  Hebburn  on 
behalf  of  Thompson,  he  would  not  have  asserted 


GHOSTS  OF  THE  LIVING  ON  BUSINESS    221 

that  he  was  Thompson  himself,  knowing,  as  he 
would,  that  he  was  speaking  to  a  photographer, 
who,  if  the  photographs  had  been  ready,  would  at 
once  have  compared  the  photographs  with  the 
person  standing  before  him,  when  the  attempted 
personation  would  at  once  have  been  detected. 
Besides,  no  one  was  likely  to  have  been  so  anxious 
about  the  photographs  as  to  come  up  to  Newcastle 
an  hour  before  the  studio  opened  in  order  to  get 
them. 

We  may  turn  it  which  way  we  please,  there  is  no 
hypothesis  which  will  fit  the  facts  except  the 
assumption  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  a  Thought 
Body,  capable  of  locomotion  and  speech,  which  can 
transfer  itself  wherever  it  pleases,  clothing  itself 
with  whatever  clothes  it  desires  to  wear,  which  are 
phantasmal  like  itself.  Short  of  that  hypothesis, 
I  do  not  see  any  explanation  possible  ;  and  yet, 
if  we  admit  that  hypothesis,  what  an  immense 
vista  of  possibilities  is  opened  up  to  our  view  ! 


PART  VI. 

GHOSTS  KEEPING  PROMISE. 


"  There  is  something  in  that  ancient  superstition 
Which  erring  as  it  is,  onr  fancy  loves." — SCOTT. 


CHAPTER.  I. 
MY  IRISH  FRIEND. 

MANY  of  the  apparitions  that  are  reported  are  of 
phantasms  that  appear  in  fulfilment  of  a  promise 
made  to  survivors  during  life.  Of  this  class  I  came, 
in  the  course  of  my  census,  upon  a  very  remarkable 
case. 

Among  my  acquaintances  is  an  Irish  lady,  the 
widow  of  an  official  who  held  a  responsible  position 
in  the  Dublin  Post  Office.  She  is  Celt  to  her  back- 
bone, wUh  all  the  qualities  of  her  race.  After 
her  husband's  death  she  contracted  an  unfortunate 
marriage — which  really  was  no  marriage  legally— 
with  an  engineer  of  remarkable  character  and  no 
small  native  talent.  He,  however,  did  not  add  to 
his  other  qualities  the  saving  virtues  of  principle 
and  honesty.  Owing  to  these  defects  my  friend 
woke  up  one  fine  morning  to  find  that  her  new 
husband  had  been  married  previously,  and  that  his 
wife  was  still  living. 


GHOSTS  KEEPING  PROMISE  223 

On  making  this  discovery  she  left  her  partner 
and  came  to  I/mdon,  where  I  met  her.  She  is  a 
woman  of  very  strong  character,  and  of  some 
considerable  although  irregular  ability.  She  has 
many  superstitions,  and  her  dreams  were  some- 
thing wonderful  to  hear.  After  she  had  been  in 
lyondon  two  years  her  bigamist  lover  found  out 
where  she  was,  and  leaving  his  home  in  Italy 
followed  her  to  London.  There  was  no  doubt 
as  to  the  sincerity  of  his  attachment  to  the  woman 
whom  he  had  betrayed,  and  the  scenes  which 
took  place  between  them  were  painful,  and  at  one 
time  threatened  to  have  a  very  tragic  ending. 

Fortunately,  although  she  never  ceased  to 
cherish  a  very  passionate  affection  for  her  lover, 
she  refused  to  resume  her  old  relations  with  him, 
and  after  many  stormy  scenes  he  departed  for 
Italy,  loading  her  with  reproaches.  Some  months 
after  his  departure  she  came  to  me  and  told  me 
she  was  afraid  something  had  happened  to  him. 
She  had  heard  him  calling  her  outside  her  window, 
and. shortly  afterwards  saw  him  quite  distinctly 
in  her  room.  She  was  much  upset  about  it. 

I  pooh-poohed  the  story,  and  put  it  down  to  a 
hallucination  caused  by  the  revival  of  the  stormy 
and  painful  scenes  of  the  parting.  Shortly  after- 
wards she  received  news  from  Italy  that  her  late 
husband,  if  we  may  so  call  him,  had  died  about 
the  same  time  she  heard  him  calling  her  by  her 
name  under  her  window  in  East  L,ondon, 

I  only  learnt  when  the  above  was  passing 
through  the  pressTthat  the  unfortunate  man, 
whose  phantasm  appeared  to  my  friend,  died 


224  RBAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

suddenly  either  by  his  own  hand  or  by  accident. 
On  leaving  London  he  drank  on  steadily,  hardly 
being  sober  for  a  single  day.  After  a  prolonged 
period  of  intoxication  he  went  out  of  the  house, 
and  was  subsequently  found  dead,  either  having 
thrown  himself  or  fallen  over  a  considerable  height, 
at  the  foot  of  which  he  was  found  dead. 

I  asked  Mrs.  G.  F. — to  write  out  for  me,  .as 
carefully  as  she  could  remember  it  after  the  lapse 
of  two  years,  exactly  what  she  saw  and  heard. 
Here  is  her  report  :— 

The  Promise. 

"  In  the  end  of  the  summer  of  1886  it  happened 
one  morning  that  Irwin  and  myself  were  awake 
at  5.30  a.m.,  and  as  we  could  not  go  to  sleep  again, 
we  lay  talking  of  our  future  possible  happiness  and 
present  troubles.  We  were  at  the  lime  sleeping  in 
Room  No.  16,  Hotel  Washington,  overlooking 
the  Bay  of  Naples.  We  agreed  that  nothing 
would  force  us  to  separate  in  this  life — neither 
poverty  nor  persecution  from  his  family,  nor  any 
other  thing  on  earth.  (I  believed  myself  his  wife 
then.)  We  each  agreed  that  we  would  die  together 
rather  than  separate.  We  spoke  a  great*  deal  that 
morning  about  our  views  of  what  was  or  was  not 
likely  to  be  the  condition  of  souls  after  death, 
and  whether  it  was  likely  that  spirits  could  com- 
municate, by  any  transmitted  feeling  or  apparition, 
the  fact  that  they  had  died  to  their  surviving 
friends.  Finally,  we  made  a  solemn  promise  to 
each  other  that  whichever  of  us  died  first  would 
appear  to  the  other  after  death  if  such  was  per- 
mitted. 


GHOSTS  KEEPING  PROMISE  225 

'Well,  after  the  fact  of  his  being  already 
married  came  to  light,  we  parted.  I  left  him,  and 
he  followed  me  to  London  on  December  '87. 
During  his  stay  here  I  once  asked  if  he 
had  ever  thought  about  our  agreement  as  to 
as  to  who  should  die  first  appealing  to  the  other  ; 
and  he  said,  'Oh,  Georgie,  you  do  not  need  to 
remind  me  ;  my  spirit  is  a  part  of  yours,  and  can 
never  be  separated  nor  dissolved  even  through 
all  eternity  ;  no,  not  even  though  you  treat  me  as 
you  do  ;  even  though  you  became  the  wife  of 
another  you  cannot  divorce  our  spirits.  And 
whenever  my  spirit  leaves  this  earth  I  will  appear 
to  you/ 

'  Well,  in  the  beginning  of  August  '88  he  left 
England  for  Naples  ;  his  last  words  were  that  I 
would  never  again  see  him  ;  I  should  see  him,  but 
not  alive,  for  he  would  put  an  end  to  his  life  and 
heart-break.  After  that  he  never  wrote  to  me  ; 
still  I  did  not  altogether  think  he  would  kill  him- 
self. On  the  22nd  or  23rd  of  the  following  Nov- 
ember ('88),  I  posted  a  note  to  him  at  Sarno  post 
office.  No  reply  came,  and  I  thought  it  might  be 
he  was  not  at  Sarno,  or  was  sick,  or  travelling, 
and  so  did  not  call  at  the  post  office,  and  so  never 
dreamed  of  his  being  dead." 

Its  Fulfilment. 

"  Time  went  on  and  nothing  occurred  till 
November  27th  (or  I  should  say  28th,  for  it 
occurred  at  12.30,  or  between  12  and  1  a.m.,  I 
forget  the  exact  time).  It  was  just  at  that  period 
when  I  used  to  sit  up  night  after  night  till  1,  2,  and 

o 


226  REAiv  GHOST  STORIES 


3  o'clock  a.m.  at  home  doing  the  class  books  ;  on 
this  occasion  I  was  sitting  close  to  the  fire,  with 
the  table  beside  me,  sorting  cuttings.  Looking  up 
from  the  papers  my  eyes  chanced  to  fall  on  the 
door,  which  stood  about  a  foot  and  a  half  open, 
and  right  inside,  but  not  so  far  in  but  that  his 
clothes  touched  the  edge  of  the  door,  stood  Irwin  ; 
he  was  dressed  as  I  last  had  seen  him  —  overcoat, 
tall  hat,  and  his  arms  were  down  by  his  sides  in 
his  natural,  usual  way.  He  stood  in  his  exact  own 
perfectly  upright  attitude,  and  held  his  head  and 
face  up  in  a  sort  of  dignified  way,  which  he  used 
generally  to  adopt  on  all  occasions  of  importance 
or  during  a  controversy  or  dispute.  He  had  his 
face  turned  towards  me,  and  looked  at  me 
with  a  terribly  meaning  expression,  very  pale, 
and  as  if  pained  by  being  deprived  of  the  power  of 
speech  or  of  local  movements. 

"  I  got  a  shocking  fright,  for  I  thought  at  first 
sight  he  was  living,  and  had  got  in  unknown  to  me 
to  surprise  me.  I  felt  my  heart  jump  with  fright, 
and  I  said,  '  Oh  !  '  but  before  I  had  hardly  finished 
the  exclamation,  his  figure  was  fading  way,  and, 
horrible  to  relate,  it  faded  in  such  a  way  that  the 
flesh  seemed  to  fade  out  of  the  clothes,  or  at  all 
events  the  hat  and  coat  were  longer  visible  than 
the  whole  man.  I  turned  white  and  cold,  felt  an 
awful  dread  ;  I  was  too  much  afraid  to  go  near 
enough  to  shut  the  door  when  he  had  vanished. 
I  was  so  shaken  and  confused,  and  half  paralysed, 
I  felt  I  could  not  even  cry  out  ;  it  was  as  if 
something  had  a  grip  on  my  spirit,  I  feared  to  stir, 
and  sat  up  all  night,  fearing  to  take  my  eyes  off 


GHOSTS  KEEPING  PROMISE  227 

the  door,  not  daring  to  go  and  shut  it.  Later  on 
I  got  an  umbrella  and  walked  tremblingly,  and 
pushed  the  door  close  without  fastening  it.  I 
feared  to  touch  it  with  my  hand.  I  felt  such  a 
relief  when  I  saw  daylight  and  heard  the  landlady 
moving  about. 

"  Now,  though  I  was  frightened,  I  did  not  for 
a  moment  think  he  was  dead,  nor  did  it  enter  my 
mind  then  about  our  agreement.  I  tried  to  shake 
off  the  nervousness,  and  quite  thought  it  must  be 
something  in  my  sight  caused  by  imagination,  and 
nerves  being  overdone  by  sitting  up  so  late  for  so 
many  nights  together.  Still,  I  thought  it  dread- 
fully strange,  it  was  so  real." 

A  Ghost's  Cough. 

"  Well,  about  three  days  passed,  and  then  I  was 
startled  by  hearing  his  voice  outside  my  window, 
as  plain  as  a  voice  could  be,  calling, '  Georgie  !  Are 
you  there,  Georgie  ?  '  I  felt  certain  it  was  really 
him  come  back  to  England.  I  could  not  mistake 
his  voice.  I  felt  quite  flurried,  and  ran  out  to  the 
hall  door,  but  no  one  in  sight.  I  went  back  in, 
and  felt  rather  upset  and  disappointed,  for  I  would 
have  been  glad  if  he  had  come  back  again,  and  began 
to  wish  he  really  would  turn  up.  I  then  thought  to 
myself,  '  Well,  that  was  so  queer.  Oh,  it  must 
be  Irwin,  and  perhaps  he  is  just  hiding  in  some 
hall  door  to  see  if  I  will  go  out  and^let  him  in,  or 
what  I  will  do.  So  out  I  went  again.  This  time 
I  put  my  hat  on,  and  ran  along  and  peeped  into 
hall  doors  where  he  might  be  hiding,  but  with  no 
result.  Later  on  that  night  I  could  have  sworn 


228  REAL  GHOST  STORIES 

I  heard  him  cough  twice  right  at  the  window,  as  if 
he  did  it  to  attract  attention.  Out  I  went  again. 
No  result. 

'  Well,  to  make  a  long  story  short,  from  that 
night  till  about  nine  weeks  after  that  voice  called 
to  me,  and  coughed,  and  coughed,  sometimes 
every  night  for  a  week,  then  three  nights  a  week, 
then  miss  a  night  and  call  on  two  nights,  miss  three 
or  four  days,  and  keep  calling  me  the  whole  night 
long,  on  and  off-,  up  till  12  midnight  or  later.  One 
time  it  would  be,  '  Georgie  !  It's  me  I  Ah,  Geor- 
gie  !  '  Or,  '  Georgie,  are  you  in  ?  Will  you  speak 
to  Irwin  ?  '  Then  a  long  pause,  and  at  the  end  of, 
say,  ten  minutes,  a  most  strange,  unearthly  sigh, 
or  a  cough — a  perfectly  intentional,  forced  cough, 
other  times  nothing  but,  '  Ah,  Georgie  !  '  On  one 
night  there  was  a  dreadful  fog.  He  called  me  so 
plain,  I  got  up  and  said,  '  Oh,  really  !  that  man 
must  be  here  ;  he  must  be  lodging  somewhere  near, 
as  sure  as  life  ;  if  he  is  not  outside  I  must  be  going 
mad  in  my  mind  or  imagination/  I  went  and 
stood  outside  the  hall  door  steps  in  the  thick  black 
fog.  No  lights  could  be  seen  that  night.  I  called 
out,  '  Irwin  !  Irwin  !  here,  come  on.  I  know  you're 
there,  trying  to  humbug  me,  I  saw  you  in  town  ; 
come  on  in,  and  don't  be  making  a  fool  of  yourself.' 
"  Well,  I  declare  to  you,  a  voice  that  seemed 
within  three  yards  of  me,  replied  out  of  the  fog, 
'  It's  only  Irwin,'  and  a  most  awful,  and  great, 
and  supernatural  sort  of  sigh  faded  away  in  the 
distance.  I  went  in,  feeling  quite  unhinged  and 
nervous,  and  could  not  sleep.  After  that  night 
it  was  chiefly  sighs  and  coughing,  and  it  was  kept 


GHOSTS  KEEPING  PROMISE  229 

up  until  one  day,  at  the  end  of  about  nine  weeks, 
my  letter  was  returned  marked,  '  Signor  O'Neill  e 
morto/  together  with  a  letter  from  the  Consul  to 
say  he  had  died  on  November  28th,  1888,  the 
day  on  which  he  appeared  to  me.'1 

The  Question  of  Dates. 

^  On  inquiring  as  to  dates  and  verification  Mrs. 
F—  -  replied  :— 

"  I  don't  know  the  hour  of  his  death,  but  if  you 
write  to  Mr.  Turner,  Vice  Consul,  Naples,  he  can 
get  it  for  you.  He  appeared  to  me  at  the  hour  I 
say  ;  of  course  there  is  a  difference  of  time  between 
here  and  Naples.  The  strange  part  is  that  once  I 
was  informed  of  his  death  by  human  means  (the 
letter),  his  spirit  seemed  to  be  satisfied,  for  no 
voice  ever  came  again  after  ;  it  was  as  if  he  wanted 
to  inform  and  make  me  know  he  had  died,  and  as 
if  he  knew  I  had  not  been  informed  by  human 
agency. 

"  I  was  so  struck  with  the  apparition  of  Novem- 
ber 28th,  that  I  made  a  note  of  the  date  at  the  time 
so  as  to  tell  him  of  it  when  next  I  wrote.  My  letter 
reached  Sarno  a  day  or  two  after  he  died.  There 
is  no  possible  doubt  about  the  voice  being  his,  for 
he  had  a  peculiar  and  uncommon  voice,  one  such  as 
I  never  heard  any  exactly  like,  or  like  at  all  in  any 
other  person.  And  in  life  he  used  to  call  me 
through  the  window  as  he  passed,  so  I  would  know 
who  it  was  knocked  at  the  door,  and  open  it. 
When  he  said,  '  Ah  !  '  after  death,  it  was  so  awfully 
sad  and  long  drawn  out,  and  as  if  expressing  that 
now  all  was  over  and  our  separation  and  his  being 


230  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

dead  was  all  so  very,  very  pitiful  and  unutterable  ; 
the  sigh  was  so  real,  so  almost  solid,  and  dis- 
cernible and  unmistakable,  till  at  the  end  it  seemed 
to  have  such  a  supernatural,  strange,  awful  dying- 
away  sound,  a  sort  of  fading,  retreating  into  dis- 
tance sound,  that  gave  the  impression  that  it  was 
not  quite  all  spirit,  but  that  the  spirit  had  some 
sort  of  visible  and  half -material  being  or  condition. 
This  was  especially  so  the  night  of  the  fog,  when 
the  voice  seemed  nearer  to  me  as  I  stood  there, 
and  as  if  it  was  able  to  come  or  stay  nearer  to  me 
because  there  was  a  fog  to  hide  its  materialism. 
On  each  of  the  other  occasions  it  seemed  to  keep 
a  good  deal  further  off  than  on  that  night,  and 
always  sounded  as  if  at  an  elevation  of  about  10ft. 
or  lift,  from  the  ground,  except  the  night  of  the 
fog,  when  it  came  down  on  a  level  with  me  as  well 
as  nearer. 

GEORGINA  F ." 


CHAPTER  II 
BROUGHAM'S  TESTIMONY. 

WHEN  we  come  to  the  question  of  the  apparition 
pure  and  simple,  one  of  the  best-known  leading 
cases  is  that  recorded  by  Lord  Brougham,  who  was 
certainly  one  of  the  hardest-headed  persons  that 
ever  lived,  a  Lord  Chancellor,  trained  from  his 
youth  up  to  weigh  evidence.  The  story  is  given  as 
follows  in  the  first  volume  of  "  Lord  Brougham's 
Memoirs  "  :— 

"  A  most  remarkable  thing  happened  to  me, 
so  remarkable  that  I  must  tell  the  story  from  the 
beginning.  After  I  left  the  High  School  I  went 
with  G — ,  my  most  intimate  friend,  to  attend  the 
classes  in  the  University.  There  was  no  divinity 
class,  but  we  frequently  in  our  walks  discussed 
many  grave  subjects — among  others,  the  immortal- 
ity of  the  soul  and  a  future  state.  This  question,  and 
the  possibility  of  the  dead  appearing  to  the  living, 
were  subjects  of  much  speculation,  and  we  actually 
committed  the  folly  of  drawing  up  an  agreement, 
written  with  our  blood,  to  the  effect  that  which- 
ever of  us  died  the  first  should  appear  to  the  other, 
and  thus  solve  any  doubts  we  had  entertained  of 
the  '  life  after  death/ 

"  After  we  had  finished  our  classes  at  the  college, 
G-  -  went  to  India,  having  got  an  appointment 
there  in  the  Civil  Service.  He  seldom  wrote  to  me, 
and  after  the  lapse  of  a  few  years  I  had  nearly 


232  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

forgotten  his  existence.  .  .  .  One  day  I  had  taken, 
as  I  have  said,  a  warm  bath  ;  and,  while  lying  in 
it  and  enjoying  the  comfort  of  the  heat,  I  turned 
my  head  round,  looking  towards  the  chair  on 
which  I  had  deposited  my  clothes,  as  I  was  about 
to  get  out  of  the  bath.  On  the  chair  sat  G—  — , 
looking  calmly  at  me.  How  I  got  out  of  the  bath 
I  know  not ;  but  on  recovering  my  senses  I  found 
myself  sprawling  on  the  floor.  The  apparition, 
or  whatever  it  was  that  had  taken  the  likeness  of 
G—  — ,  had  disappeared. 

"  This  vision  had  produced  such  a  shock  that  I 
had  no  inclination  to  talk  about  it,  or  to  speak 
about  it  even  to  Stewart,  but  the  impression  it 
made  upon  me  was  too  vivid  to  be  easily  forgotten, 
and  so  strongly  was  I  affected  by  it  that  I  have 
here  written  down  the  whole  history,  with  the  date, 
December  19th,  and  all  the  particulars,  as  they  are 
now  fresh  before  me.  No  doubt  I  had  fallen  asleep, 
and  that  the  appearance  presented  so  distinctly 
before  my  eyes  was  a  dream  I  cannot  for  a  moment 
doubt ;  yet  for  years  I  had  had  no  communication 
with  G—  — ,  nor  had  there  been  anything  to  recall 
him  to  my  recollection.  Nothing  had  taken  place 
concerning  our  Swedish  travels  connected  with 
G-  — ,  or  with  India,  or  with  anything  relating 
to  him,  or  to  any  member  of  his  family.  I  recol- 
lected quickly  enough  our  old  discussion,  and 
the  bargain  we  had  made.  I  could  not  discharge 
from  my  mind  the  impression  that  G—  -  must 
have  died,  and  that  his  appearance  to  me  was 
to  be  received  by  me  as  a  proof  of  a  future  state. 
This  was  on  December  19th,  1799. 


GHOSTS  KEEPING  PROMISE  233 

"  In  October,  1862,  Lord  Brougham  added  as  a 
postscript :-  •'  I  have  just  been  copying  out  from 
my  journal  the  account  of  this  strange  dream, 
"  Certissima  mortis  imago  !  "  And  now  to  finish 
the  story  begun  about  sixty  years  since.  Soon 
after  my  return  to  Edinburgh  there  arrived  a  letter 
from  India  announcing  G-  -'s  death,  and  stating 
that  he  died  on  December  19th/ 

A  Vow  Fulfilled. 

Very  many  of  the  apparitions  of  this  description 
appear  in  connection  with  a  promise  made  during 
lifetime  to  do  so.  A  lady  correspondent  sends  me 
the  following  narrative,  which  she  declares  she 
had  from  the  sister  of  a  student  at  the  Royal 
Academy  who  was  personally  known  to  her.  He 
told  the  story  first  to  his  mother,  who  is  dead,  so 
that  all  chance  of  verifying  the  story  is  impossible. 
It  may  be  quoted,  however,  as  a  pendant  to  L,ord 
Brougham's  vision,  and  is  much  more  remarkable 
than  his,  inasmuch  as  the  phantom  was  seen  by 
several  persons  at  the  same  time  :— 

"  I  think  it  was  about  the  year  1856  as  nearly  as 
I  can  remember,  that  a  party  of  young  men, 
students  of  the  Royal  Academy,  and  some  of  them 
members  also,  used  to  meet  in  a  certain  room  in 
London,  so  many  evenings  in  the  week,  to  smoke 
and  chat.  One  of  them — the  son  of  a  colonel  in  the 
army,  long  since  dead — this  only  son  kept  yet  a 
remnant,  if  no  more,  of  the  faith  of  his  childhood, 
cherished  in  him  by  his  widowed  mother  with 
jealous  care,  as  he  detailed  to  her  from  time  to 
time  fragments  of  the  nightly  discussions  against 
the  immortality  of  the  soul. 


234 


GHOST  STORIES 


"  On  one  particular  evening  the  conversation 
drifted  into  theological  matters  —  this  young  Aca- 
demician taking  up  the  positive  side,  and  asserting 
his  belief  in  a  hereafter  of  weal  or  woe  for  all  human 
life. 

"  Two  or  three  of  the  others  endeavoured  to 
put  him  down,  but  he,  maintaining  his  position 
quietly,  provoked  a  suggestion,  half  in  earnest 
and  half  in  jest,  from  one  of  their  number,  that 
the  first  among  them  who  should  die,  should  appear 
to  the  rest  of  their  assembly  afterwards  in  that 
room  at  the  usual  hour  of  meeting.  The  suggestion 
was  received  with  jests  and  laughter  by  some,  and 
with  graver  faces  by  others  —  but  at  last  each  man 
solemnly  entered  into  a  pledge  that  if  he  were  the 
first  to  die  amongst  them,  he  would,  if  permitted, 
return  for  a  few  brief  seconds  to  this  earth  and 
appear  to  the  rest  to  certify  to  the  truth. 

"  Before  very  long  one  young  man's  place  was 
empty.  No  mention  being  made  of  the  vow  that 
they  had  taken,  probably  time  enough  had  elapsed 
for  it  to  have  been  more  or  less,  for  the  present, 
forgotten. 

'  The  meetings  continued.  One  evening  when 
they  were  sitting  smoking  round  the  fire,  one  of 
the  party  uttered  an  exclamation,  causing  the  rest 
to  look  up.  Following  the  direction  of  his  gaze, 
each  man  saw  distinctly  for  himself  a  shadowy 
figure,  in  the  likeness  of  the  only  absent  one  of  their 
number,  distinctly  facing  them  on  the  other  side 
of  the  room.  The  eyes  looked  earnestly,  with  a 
yearning,  sad  expression  in  them,  slowly  upon 
each  member  there  assembled,  and  then  vanished 


GHOSTS  KEEPING  PROMISE  235 

as  a  rainbow  fades  out  of  existence  from  the 
evening  sky. 

"  For  a  few  seconds  no  one  spoke,  then  the  most 
confirmed  unbeliever  among  them  tried  to  explain 
it  all  away,  but  his  words  fell  flat,  and  no  one 
echoed  his  sentiments  ;  and  then  the  widow's 
son  spoke.  '  Poor  -  -  is  dead  '  he  said,  '  and 
has  appeared  to  us  according  to  his  vow/  Then 
followed  a  comparison  of  their  sensations  during 
the  visitation,  and  all  agreed  in  stating  that  they 
felt  a  cold  chill  similar  to  the  entrance  of  a  winter 
fog  at  door  or  window  of  a  room  which  has  been 
warm,  and  when  the  appearance  had  faded  from 
their  view  the  cold  breath  also  passed  away. 

"  I  think,  but  will  not  be  positive  on  this,  the 
son  of  the  widow  lady  died  long  after  this  event, 
but  how  long  or  how  short  a  time  I  never  heard  ; 
but  the  facts  of  the  above  story  were  told  me  by 
the  sister  of  this  young  man.  I  also  knew  their 
mother  well.  She  was  of  a  gentle,  placid  dis- 
position, by  no  means  excitable  or  likely  to  credit 
any  superstitious  tales.  Her  son  returned  home 
on  that  memorable  evening  looking  very  white 
and  subdued,  and,  sinking  into  a  chair,  he  told  her 
he  should  never  doubt  again  the  truths  that  she 
had  taught  him,  and  a  little  reluctantly  he  told  her 
the  above,  bit  by  bit,  as  it  were,  as  she  drew  it  from 
him." 

A  similar  story  to  the  foregoing  one  was  supplied 
me  by  the  wife  of  the  Rev.  Bloomfield  James, 
Congregational  minister  at  Wimbledon.  (1891). 
It  is  as  follows  :— 

"  My  mother,  aunt,  and  Miss  E.,  of  Bideford, 


236  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

North  Devon,  were  at  school  together  at  Teign- 
mouth.  The  two  latter  girls  formed  a  great 
friendship,  and  promised  whichever  died  first 
would  come  to  the  other.  About  the  year  1815 
or  1816  my  aunt  Charlotte  was  on  the  stair  coming 
from  her  room  when  she  saw  Miss  E.  walking  up. 
Aunt  was  not  at  all  frightened,  as  she  was  ex- 
pecting her  friend  on  a  visit,  and  called  out,  '  Oh, 
how  glad  I  am  to  see  you,  but  why  did  you  not 
write  !  '  A  few  days  afterwards  news  came  of  Miss 
E.'s  death  on  that  evening/' 

It  is  very  rare  that  the  apparition  speaks  ; 
usually  it  simply  appears,  and  leaves  those  who  see 
it  to  draw  their  own  inferences.  But  sometimes 
the  apparition  shows  signs  of  the  wound  which 
caused  its  death.  The  most  remarkable  case  of 
this  description  is  that  in  which  lieutenant  Colt, 
of  the  Fusiliers,  reported  his  death  at  Sebastopol  to 
his  brother  in  Scotland  more  than  a  fortnight 
before  the  news  of  the  casualty  arrived  in  this 
country. 

The  Case  of  Lieutenant  Colt. 
Captain   G.    F.    Russell    Colt,    of   Gartsherrie, 
Coatbridge,  N.B.,  reports  the  case  as  follows  to  the 
Psychical  Society  (Vol.  i.  page  125)  :- 

"  I  had  a  very  dear  brother  (my  eldest  brother), 
Oliver,  lieutenant  in  the  7th  Royal  Fusiliers.  He 
was  about  nineteen  years  old,  and  had  at  that  time 
been  some  months  before  Sebastopol.  I  corres- 
ponded frequently  with  him,  and  once  when  he 
wrote  in  low  spirits,  not  being  well,  I  said  in  answer 
that  he  was  to  cheer  up,  but  that  if  anything  did 


GHOSTS  KEEPING  PROMISE  237 

happen  to  him  he  was  to  let  me  know  by  appearing 
to  me  in  my  room.  This  letter,  I  found  subse- 
quently, he  received  as  he  was  starting  to  receive 
the  sacrament  from  a  clergyman  who  has  since 
related  the  fact  to  me. 

"  Having  done  this  he  went  to  the  entrench- 
ments and  never  returned,  as  in  a  few  hours  after- 
wards the  storming  of  the  Redan  commenced. 
He,  on  the  captain  of  his  company  falling,  took  his 
place  and  led  his  men  bravely  on.  He  had  just 
led  them  within  the  walls,  though  already  wounded 
in  several  places,  when  a  bullet  struck  him  in  the 
right  temple  and  he  fell  amongst  heaps  of  others, 
where  he  was  found  in  a  sort  of  kneeling  posture 
(being  propped  up  by  the  other  dead  bodies)  thirty- 
six  hours  afterwards.  His  death  took  place,  or 
rather  he  fell,  though  he  may  not  have  died 
immediately,  on  September  8th,  1855. 

"  That  night  I  awoke  suddenly  and  saw  facing 
the  window  of  my  room  by  my  bedside,  surrounded 
by  a  light  sort  of  phosphorescent  mist,  as  it  were, 
my  brother  kneeling.  I  tried  to  speak  but  could 
not.  I  buried  my  head  in  the  bedclothes,  not  at 
all  afraid  (because  we  had  all  been  brought  up  not 
to  believe  in  ghosts  and  apparitions),  but  simply 
to  collect  my  ideas,  because  I  had  not  been  thinking 
or  dreaming  of  him,  and  indeed  had  forgotten  all 
about  what  I  had  written  to  him  a  fortnight 
before.  I  decided  that  it  must  be  fancy  and  the 
moonlight  playing  on  a  towel,  or  something  out  of 
place  ;  but  on  looking  up  again  there  he  was, 
looking  lovingly,  imploringly,  and  sadly  at  me. 
I  tried  again  to  speak,  but  found  myself  tongue- 


238  REAL  GHOST  STORIES 

tied.    I  could  not  utter  a  sound.    I  sprang  out  of 
bed,  glanced  through  the  window,  and  saw  that 
there  was  no  moon,  but  it  was  very  dark  and  raining 
hard,  by  the  sound  against  the  panes.     I  turned 
and  still  saw  poor  Oliver.    I  shut  my  eyes,  walked 
through  it,  and  reached  the  door  of  the  room.    As  I 
turned  the  handle,   before  leaving  the  room,   I 
looked  once  more  back.     The  apparition  turned 
round  his  head  slowly,  and  again  looked  anxiously 
and  lovingly  at  me,  and  I  saw  then  for  the  first 
time  a  wound  on  the  right  temple  with  a  red 
stream  from  it.    His  face  was  of  a  waxy  pale  tint, 
but  transparent  looking,  and  so  was  the  reddish 
mark.     But  it  was  almost  impossible  to  describe 
his  appearance.    I  only  know  I  shall  never  forget 
it.    I  left  the  room  and  went  into  a  friend's  room, 
and  lay  on  the  sofa  the  rest  of  the  night.    I  told  him 
why,  I  also  told  others  in  the  house,  but  when  I  told 
my  father  he  ordered  me  not  to  repeat  such  non- 
sense, and  especially  not  to  let  my  mother  know. 
"  On  the  Monday  following  I  received  a  note 
from  Sir  Alexander  Milne  to  say  that  the  Redan 
was  stormed,  but  no  particulars.    I  told  my  friend 
to  let  me  know  if  he  saw  the  name  among  the 
killed  and  wounded  before  me.    About  a  fortnight 
later  he  came  to  my  bedroom  in  his  mother's  house 
in  Athole  Crescent  in  Edinburgh,  with  a  very  grave 
face.  I  said, '  I  suppose  it  is  to  tell  me  the  sad  news 
I  expect/  and  he  said,  'Yes/     Both  the  colonel 
of  the  regiment  and  one  or  two  officers  who  saw 
the  body  confirmed  the  fact  that  the  appearance 
was  much  according  to  my  description,  and  the 
death-wound  was  exactly  where  I  had  seen  it. 


GHOSTS  KEEPING  PROMISE  239 

His  appearance,  if  so,  must  have  been  some  hours 
after  death,  as  he  appeared  to  me  a  few  minutes 
after  two  in  the  morning. 

"  Months  later  his  little  Prayer-book  and  the 
letter  I  had  written  to  him  were  returned  to 
Inveresk,  found  in  the  inner  breast  pocket  of  the 
tunic  which  he  wore  at  his  death.  I  have  them 


now." 


APPENDIX. 

SOME  HISTORICAL  GHOSTS. 


THE  following  collection  presents  a  list  of  names 
—more  or  less  well  known— with  which  ghost 
stories  of  some  kind  are  associated.  The  authority 
for  these  stories,  though  in  many  cases  good,  is  so 
varied  in  quality  that  they  are  not  offered  as 
evidential  of  anything  except  the  wide  diversity 
of  the  circles  in  which  such  things  find  acceptance 

Royal. 

HENRY  IV.,  of  France,  told  d'Aubigne  (see  d'Au- 
bigne Histoire  Universelle)  that  in  presence  of 
himself,  the  Archbishop  of  Lyons,  and  three 
ladies  of  the  Court,  the  Queen  (Margaret  of 
Valois)  saw  the  apparition  of  a  certain  cardinal 
afterwards  found  to  have  died  at  the  moment. 
Also  he  (Henry  IV.)  was  warned  of  his  ap- 
proaching end,  not  long  before  he  was  murdered 
by  Ravaillac,  by  meeting  an  apparition  in  a 
thicket  in  Fontainebleau.  "  (Sully 's  Memoirs.") 

ABEI,  THE  FRATRICIDE,  King  of  Denmark  was 
buried  in  unconsecrated  ground,  and  still 
haunts  the  wood  of  Poole,  near  the  city  of 
Sleswig. 

VAI,DEMAR  IV,  haunts  Gurre  Wood,  near  Elsinore. 


APPENDIX  241 

CHARGES  XI.,  of  Sweden,  accompanied  by  his 
chamberlain  and  state  physician,  witnessed  the 
trial  of  the  assassin  of  Gustavus  III.,  which 
occurred  nearly  a  century  later. 

JAMES  IV.,  of  Scotland,  after  vespers  in  the  chapel 
at  lyinlithgow,  was  warned  by  an  apparition 
against  his  intended  expedition  into  England. 
He,  however,  proceeded,  and  was  warned  again 
at  Jedburgh,  but,  persisting,  fell  at  Flodden 
Field. 

CHARLES  I.,  OF  ENGLAND,  when  resting  at  Daven- 
tree  on  the  Eve  of  the  battle  of  Naseby,  was 
twice  visited  by  the  apparition  of  Str afford, 
warning  him  not  to  meet  the  Parliamentary 
Army,  then  quartered  at  Northampton.  Being 
persuaded  by  Prince  Rupert  to  disregard  the 
warning,  the  King  set  off  to  march  northward, 
but  was  surprised  on  the  route,  and  a  disastrous 
defeat  followed. 

ORLEANS,  DUKE  OF,  brother  of  Louis  XIV.,  called 
his  eldest  son  (afterwards  Regent)  by  his  second 
title,  Due  de  Chartres,  in  preference  to  the  more 
usual  one  of  Due  de  Valois.  This  change  is  said 
to  have  been  in  consequence  of  a  communica- 
tion made  before  his  birth  by  the  apparition  of 
his  father's  first  wife,  Henrietta  of  England, 
reported  to  have  been  poisoned. 

Historical  Women. 

ELIZABETH,  QUEEN  is  said  to  have  been  warned  of 
her  death  by  the  apparition  of  her  own  double. 
(So,  too,  Sir  Robert  Napier  and  L,ady  Diana 
Rich). 


242  REAL  GHOST  STORIES 

CATHERINE  DE  MEDICIS  saw,  in  a  vision,  the  battle 
of  Jarnac,  and  cried  out,  "  Do  you  not  see  the 
Prince  of  Conde  dead  in  the  hedge  ?  '  This 
and  many  similar  stories  are  told  by  Margaret  of 
Valois  in  her  Memoirs. 

PHIUPPA,  WIFE  OF  THE  DUKE  OF  LORRAINE,  when 
a  girl  in  a  convent,  saw  in  vision  the  battle  of 
Pavia,  then  in  progress,  and  the  captivity  of  the 
king  her  cousin,  and  called  on  the  nuns  about 
her  to  pray. 

JOAN  OF  ARC  was  visited  and  directed  by  various 
Saints,  including  the  Archangel  Michael,  S. 
Catherine,  S.  Margaret,  etc. 

Lord  Chancellors. 

ERSKINE,  LORD,  himself  relates  (Lady  Morgan's 
"  Book  of  the  Boudoir,"  1829,  vol.  i.  123)  that 
the  spectre  of  his  father's  butler,  whom  he  did 

•  not  know  to  be  dead,  appeared  to  him  in  broad 
daylight,    "  to  meet  your  honour,"   so  it  ex- 
plained, "  and  to  solicit  your  interference  with 
my  lord  to  recover  a  sum  due  to  me  which  the 
steward  at  the  last  settlement  did  not  pay," 
which  proved  to  be  the  fact. 

Cabinet  Ministers. 
BUCKINGHAM,  DUKE  OF,  was  exhorted  to  amend- 

•  ment  and  warned  of  approaching  assassination 
by  apparition  of  his  father,  Sir  George  VilHers, 
who  was  seen  by  Mr.  Towers,  surveyor  of  works 
at  Windsor.     All  occurred  as  foretold. 

CASTI.EREAGH,  LORD  (who  succeeded  the  above 
as  Foreign  Secretary),  when  a  young  man, 


APPENDIX  243 

quartered  with  his  regiment  in  Ireland,  saw  the 
apparition  of  "  The  Radiant  Boy/'  said  to  be 
an  omen  of  good.  Sir  Walter  Scott  speaks  of 
him  as  one  of  two  persons  "  of  sense  and  credi- 
bility, who  both  attested  supernatural  appear- 
ances on  their  own  evidence." 

PEEL,  SIR  ROBERT,  and  his  brother,  both  saw 
Lord  Byron  in  London  in  1810,  while  he  was, 
in  fact,  lying  dangerously  ill  at  Patras.  During 
the  same  fever,  he  also  appeared  to  others,  and 
was  even  seen  to  write  down  his  name  among 
the  inquirers  after  the  King's  health. 

Emperors. 

TRAJAN,  Emperor,  was  extricated  from  Antioch 
during  an  earthquake,  by  a  spectre  which  drove 
him  out  of  a  window.  (Dio  Cassius,  lib.  Ixviii.) 

CARACALLA,  Emperor,  was  visited  by  the  ghost 
of  his  father  Severus. 

JULIAN  THE  APOSTATE,  Emperor,  (1)  when  hesi- 
tating to  accept  the  Empire,  saw  a  female  figure, 
"  The  Genius  of  the  Empire,"  who  said  she 
would  remain  with  him,  but  not  for  long.  (2) 
Shortly  before  his  death,  he  saw  his  genius 
leave  him  with  a  dejected  air.  (3)  He  saw  a 
phantom  prognosticating  the  death  of  the 
Emperor  Constans.  (See  S.  Basil.) 

THEODOSIUS,   Emperor,   when  on  the  eve  of   a 
{£.  battle,  was  reassured  of  the  issue  by  the  appar- 
ition of  two  men  ;    also  seen  independently  by 
one  of  his  soldiers. 


244  REAI.  GHOST  STORIES 

Soldiers. 

CURTIUS  RUFUS  (pro-consul  of  Africa)  is  reported 
by  Pliny  to  have  been  visited,  while  still  young 
and  unknown,  by  a  gigantic  female — the  Genius 
of  Africa — who  foretold  his  career.  (Pliny, 
b.  vii.  letter  26.) 

Juuus  C^esAR  was  marshalled  across  the  Rubicon 
by  a  spectre,  which  seized  a  trumpet  from  one 
of  the  soldiers  and  sounded  an  alarm. 

XERXES,  after  giving  up  the  idea  of  carrying  war 
into  Greece,  was  persuaded  to  the  expedition  by 
the  apparition  of  a  young  man,  who  also  visited 
Artabanus,  uncle  to  the  king,  when,  upon 
Xerxes1  request,  Artabanus  assumed  his  robe 
and  occupied  his  place.  (Herodotus,  vii.) 

BRUTUS  was  visited  by  a  spectre,  supposed  to  be 
that  of  Julius  Caesar,  who  announced  that  they 
would  meet  again  at  Philippi,  where  he  was 
defeated  in  battle,  and  put  an  end  to  his  own 
fife. 

DRUSUS,  when  seeking  to  cross  the  Elbe,  was 
deterred  by  a  female  spectre,  who  told  him  to  turn 
back  and  meet  his  approaching  end.  He  died 
before  reaching  the  Rhine. 

PAUSANIUS,  General  of  the  Lacedaemonians,  in- 
advertently caused  the  death  of  a  young  lady  of 
good  family,  who  haunted  him  day  and  night, 
urging  him  to  give  himself  up  to  justice.  (Plu- 
tarch in  Simone.) 

Dio,  General,  of  Syracuse,  saw  a  female  apparition 
sweeping  furiously  in  his  house,  to  denote  that 
his  family  would  shortly  be  swept  out  of  Syra- 


APPENDIX  245 

cuse,    which,    through   various   accidents   was 
shortly  the  case. 

NAPOLEON,  at  S.  Helena,  saw  and  conversed  with 
the  apparition  of  Josephine,  who  warned  him  of 
his  approaching  death.  The  story  is  narrated 
by  Count  Montholon,  to  whom  he  told  it. 

BLUCHER,  on  the  very  day  of  his  decease,  related 
to  the  King  of  Prussia  that  he  had  been  warned 
by  the  apparition  of  his  entire  family,  of  his 
approaching  end. 

Fox,  GENERAL,  went  to  Flanders  with  the  Duke 
of  York  shortly  before  the  birth  of  his  son.  Two 
years  later  he  had  a  vision  of  the  child — dead— 
and  correctly  described  its  appearance  and  sur- 
roundings, though  the  death  occurred  in  a  house 
unknown  to  him. 

GARFIELD,  GENERAL,  when  a  child  of  six  or  seven, 
saw  and  conversed  with  his  father,  lately  de- 
ceased. He  also  had  a  premonition,  which 
proved  correct,  as  to  the  date  of  his  death — the 
anniversary  of  the  battle  of  Wickmauga,  in 
which  he  took  a  brave  part. 

LINCOLN,  PRESIDENT,  had  a  certain  premonitory 
dream  which  occurred  three  times  in  relation  to 
important  battles,  and  the  fourth  on  the  eve  of 
his  assassination. 

COLIGNI,  ADMIRAL,  was  three  times  warned  to  quit 
Paris  before  the  Feast  of  St.  Bartholemew  but 
disregarded  the  premonition  and  perished  in  the 
Massacre  (1572). 


246  REAL  GHOST  STORIES 

Men  of  Letters. 

PETRARCH  saw  the  apparition  of  the  bishop  of  his 
diocese  at  the  moment  of  death. 

EPIMENIDES,  a  poet  contemporary  with  Salon,  is 
reported  by  Plutarch  to  have  quitted  his  body 
at  will  and  to  have  conversed  with  spirits. 

DANTE,  JACOPO,  son  of  the  poet,  was  visited  in  a 
dream  by  his  father,  who  conversed  with  him  and 
told  him  where  to  find  the  missing  thirteen 
cantos  of  the  Commedia. 

TASSO  saw  and  conversed  with  beings  invisible 
to  those  about  him. 

GOETHE  saw  his  own  double  riding  by  his  side 
under  conditions  which  really  occurred  years 
later.  His  father,  mother,  and  grandmother 
were  all  ghost-seers. 

DONNE,  DR.,  when  in  Paris,  saw  the  apparition  of 
his  wife  in  London  carrying  a  dead  child  at  the 
very  hour  a  dead  infant  was  in  fact  born. 

BYRON,  LORD  is  said  to  have  seen  the  Black  Friar 
of  Newstead  on  the  eve  of  his  ill-fated  marriage- 
Also,  with  others,  he  saw  the  apparition  of 
Shelley  walk  into  a  wood  at  L,erici,  though  they 
knew  him  at  the  time  to  be  several  miles  away. 

SHELLEY,  while  in  a  state  of  trance,  saw  a  figure 
wrapped  in  a  cloak  which  beckoned  to  him  and 
asked,  Siete  soddisfatto  ? — are  you  satisfied  ? 

BENVENUTO  CELLINI,  when  in  captivity  at  Rome 

§5  by  order  of  the  Pope,  was  dissuaded  from  suicide 
by  the  apparition  of  a  young  man  who  fre- 
quently visited  and  encouraged  him. 


APPENDIX  247 

MOZART  was  visited  by  a  mysterious  person  who 
ordered  him  to  compose  a  Requiem,  and  came 
frequently  to  inquire  after  its  progress,  but 
disappeared  on  its  completion,  which  occurred 
just  in  time  for  its  performance  at  Mozart's 
own  funeral. 

BEN  JONSON,  when  staying  at  Sir  Robert  Cotton's 
house,  was  visited  by  the  apparition  of  his 
eldest  son  with  a  mark  of  a  bloody  cross  upon 
his  forehead  at  the  moment  of  his  death  by  the 
plague.  He  himself  told  the  story  to  Drummond 
of  Hawthornden. 

THACKERAY,  W.  M.  writes,  "  It  is  all  very  well  for 
you  who  have  probably  never  seen  spirit  mani- 
festations, to  talk  as  you  do,  but  had  you  seen 
what  I  have  witnessed  you  would  hold  a  different 
opinion/' 

MRS.  BROWNING'S  spirit  appeared  to  her  sister 
with  warning  of  death.  Robert  Browning  writes, 
Tuesday,  July  21st,  1863,  "  Arabel  (Miss  Bar- 
rett) told  me  yesterday  that  she  had  been  much 
agitated  by  a  dream  which  happened  the  night 
before — Sunday,  July  19th.  She  saw  her, 
and  asked,  When  shall  I  be  with  you  ?  The 
reply  was,  Dearest,  in  five  years,  where  upon 
Arabel  awoke.  She  knew  in  her  dream  that  it 
was  not  to  the  living  she  spoke."  In  five  years, 
within  a  month  of  their  completion,  Miss  Barrett 
died,  and  Browning  writes,  "  I  had  forgotten 
the  date  of  the  dream,  and  supposed  it  was  only 
three  years,  and  that  two  had  still  to  run." 

BISHOP,  and  his  brother,  when  at  Cam- 
bridge each  had  a  vision  of  their  mother  looking 


248  REAL  GHOST  STORIES 

sadly  at  them,  and  saying  she  would  not  be  able 
to  keep  her  promise  of  visiting  them.  She 
died  at  the  time. 

DR.  GUTHRIE  was  directed,  by  repeated  pullings 
at  his  coat,  to  go  in  a  certain  direction,  con- 
trary to  previous  intention,  and  was  thus  the 
means  of  saving  the  life  of  a  parishioner. 

Mii,i,ER,  HUGH,  tells,  in  his  "  Schools  and  School- 
masters/' of  the  apparition  of  a  bloody  hand, 
seen  by  himself  and  the  servant  but  not  by 
others  present.  Accepted  as  a  warning  of  the 
death  of  his  father. 

PORTER,  ANNA  MARIA,  when  living  at  Esher,  was 
visited  one  afternoon  by  an  old  gentleman — 
a  neighbour,  who  frequently  came  in  to  tea. 
On  this  occasion  he  left  the  room  without  speak- 
ing, and  fearing  that  something  had  happened 
she  sent  to  inquire,  and  found  that  he  had  died 
at  the  moment  of  his  appearance. 

EDGWORTH,  MARIA,  was  waiting  with  her  family 
for  an  expected  guest,  when  the  vacant  chair 
was  suddenly  occupied  by  the  apparition  of  a 
sailor  cousin,  who  stated  that  his  ship  had  been 
wrecked  and  he  alone  saved.  The  event  proved 
the  contrary — he  alone  was  drowned. 

MARRYAT,  CAPTAIN— the  story  is  told  by  his 
daughter — while  staying  in  a  country-house 
in  the  North  of  England  saw  the  family  ghost— 
an  ancestress  of  the  time  of  Queen  Elizabeth  who 
had  poisoned  her  husband.  He  tried  to  shoot 
her,  but  the  ball  passed  harmlessly  into  the  door 
behind,  and  the  lady  faded  away — always 
smiling. 


APPENDIX  249 

DE  STAEL,  MADAME,  was  haunted  by  the  spirit 
of  her  father,  who  counselled  and  helped  her 
in  all  times  of  need. 

ly.E.Iy.'s  ghost  was  seen  by  Dr.  Madden  in  the 
room  in  which  she  died  at  Cape  Coast  Castle. 

DE  MORGAN,  PROFESSOR,  writes  :  "  I  am  perfectly 
convinced  that  I  have  both  seen  and  heard,  in  a 
manner  that  should  make  unbelief  impossible, 
things  called  spiritual  which  cannot  be  taken 
by  a  rational  being  to  be  capable  of  explanation 
by  imposture,  coincidence,  or  mistake/* 

FOOTE,  SAMUEL,  in  the  year  1740,  while  visiting 
at  his  father's  house  in  Truro,  was  kept  awake 
by  sounds  of  sweet  music.  His  uncle  was  about 
the  same  time  murdered  by  assassins. 

Men  of  Science. 

DAVY,  SIR  HUMPHREY,  when  a  young  man,  suffer- 
ing from  yellow  fever  on  the  Gold  Coast,  was 
comforted  by  visions  of  his  guardian  angel,  who, 
years  after,  appeared  to  him  again — incarnate — 
in  the  person  of  his  nurse  during  his  last  illness. 

HARVEY,  WILLIAM,  the  discoverer  of  the  circula- 
tion of  the  blood,  used  to  relate  that  his  life  was 
saved  by  a  dream.  When  a  young  man  he  was 
proceeding  to  Padua,  when  he  was  detained — 
with  no  reason  alleged — by  the  governor  at 
Dover.  The  ship  was  wrecked,  and  all  on  board 
lost,  and  it  was  then  explained  that  the  governor 
had  received  orders — in  a  dream — to  prevent  a 
person,  to  whose  description  Harvey  answered, 
from  going  on  board  that  night. 


250  REAL  GHOST  STORIES 

FARQUHAR,  SIR  WAITER,  physician  (made  a 
baronet  in  1796),  visited  a  patient  at  Pomeroy 
Castle.  While  waiting  alone  a  lady  appeared 
to  him,  exhibiting  agony  and  remorse  (who 
proved  to  be  the  family  ghost)  prognosticating, 
the  death  of  the  patient,  which  followed. 

CLARK,  SIR  JAMES,  WIFE  OF,  while  living  in  their 
house  in  Brook  Street,  saw  the  apparition  of  her 
son,  Dr.  J.  Clark,  then  in  India,  carrying  a  dead 
baby  wrapped  in  an  Indian  shawl.  Shortly 
afterwards,  he  did,  in  fact,  send  home  the  body 
of  a  child  for  interment,  which  had  died  at  the 
hour  noted,  to  fill  up  the  coffin  it  was  wrapped 
up  in  an  Indian  scarf. 

HERBERT  OF  CHERBURY,  LORD,  one  of  the  first  to 
systematise  deism,  when  in  doubt  whether  he 
should  publish  his  "  De  Veritate,"  as  advised  by 
Grotius,  prayed  for  a  sign,  and  heard  sounds 
"  like  nothing  on  earth,  which  did  so  comfort 
and  cheer  me,  that  I  took  my  petition  as 
granted." 

BACON,  FRANCIS,  was  warned  in  a  dream  of  his 
father's  approaching  end,  which  occurred  in  a 
few  days. 

Theologians. 

LUTHER,  MARTIN,  was  visited  by  apparitions,— 
one,  according  to  Melancthon,  who  announced 
his  coming  by  knocking  at  the  door. 

MELANCTHON  says  that  the  apparition  of  a  vener- 
able person  came  to  him  in  his  study  and  told 
him  to  warn  his  friend  Grynaeus  to  escape  at 
once  from  the  danger  of  the  Inquisition,  a  warn- 
ing which  saved  his  life. 


APPENDIX  251 

ZWINGU  was  visited  by  an  apparition  "  with  a 
perversion  of  a  text  of  Scripture/' 

OBERUN,  PASTOR,  was  visited  almost  daily  by  his 
deceased  wife,  who  conversed  with  him,  and  was 
visible  not  only  to  himself,  but  to  all  about  him. 

Fox,  GEORGE,  while  walking  on  Pendle  Hill,  York- 
shire, saw  his  future  converts  coming  towards 
him  "  along  a  river-side,  to  serve  the  Lord." 

NEWMAN,  CARDINAL,  relates  in  a  letterjan.  3rd, 
1833,  that  when  in  quarantine  in  Malta,  he  and 
his  companions  heard  footsteps  not  to  be 
accounted  for  by  human  agency. 

WILBERFORCE,  BISHOP,  experienced  remarkable 
premonitions,  and  phenomena  even  more  start- 
ling are  attributed  to  him. 

SAINTS. — The  stories  of  visions,  apparitions,  etc. 
which  are  told  in  connection  with  the  Saints  are 
far  too  numerous  to  quote.  The  following, 
however,  may  be  referred  to  as  of  special  inter- 
est : — (1)  Phantasms  of  the  Living. — St.  Ignatius 
Loyala,  Gennadius  (the  friend  of  St.  Augustine), 
St.  Augustine  himself,  twice  over  (he  tells  the 
story  himself,  Serm.  233),  St.  Benedict  and  St. 
Meletius,  all  appeared  during  life  in  places  dis- 
tant from  their  actual  bodily  whereabouts. 
(2)  Phantasms  of  the  Dead. — St.  Anselm  saw  the 
slain  body  of  William  Rufus,  St.  Basil  that  of 
Julian  the  Apostate,  St.  Benedict  the  ascent  to 
heaven  of  the  soul  of  St.  Germanus,  bishop  of 
Capua — all  at  the  moment  of  death.  St.  Augus- 
tine and  St.  Edmund,  Archbishops  of  Canter- 
bury, are  said  to  have  conversed  with  spirits. 
St.  Ambrose  and  St.  Martin  of  Tours  received 


252  REAL  GHOST  STORIES 

information  concerning  relics  from  the  original 
owners  of  the  remains.  (3)  Premonitions. — St. 
Cyprian  and  St.  Columba  each  foretold  the  date 
and  manner  of  his  own  death  as  revealed  in 
visions. 

Miscellaneous. 

HARCOURT,  COUNTESS  when  Lady  Nuneham, 
mentioned  one  morning  having  had  an  agitating 
dream,  but  was  met  with  ridicule.  Later  in  the 
day  Lord  Harcourt — her  husband's  father- 
was  missing.  She  exclaimed,  "  Look  in  the 
well/'  and  fainted  away.  He  was  found  there 
with  a  dog,  which  he  had  been  trying  to  save. 

AKSAKOFF,  MME.,  wife  of  Chancellor  Aksakoff, 
on  the  night  of  May  12th,  1855,  saw  the  appari- 
tion of  her  brother,  who  died  at  the  time.  The 
story  is  one  very  elaborate  as  to  detail. 

RICH,  LADY  DIANA,  was  warned  of  her  death  by 
a  vision  of  her  own  double  in  the  avenue  of 
Holland  House. 

BREADALBANE,  MAY,  LADY,  her  sister  (both 
daughters  of  Lord  Holland),  was  also  warned  in 
vision  of  her  death. 

THE  DAUGHTER  OF  SIR  CHARLES  LEE. — This  story, 
related  by  the  Bishop  of  Gloucester,  1662,  is 
very  well  known.  On  the  eve  of  her  intended 
marriage  with  Sir  W.  Perkins,  she  was  visited 
by  her  mother's  spirit,  anouncing  her  approach- 
ing death  at  twelve  o'clock  next  day.  She 
occupied  the  intervening  time  with  suitable 
preparations,  and  died  calmly  at  the  hour 
foretold. 


APPENDIX 


253 


BERESFORD,  LADY,  wife  of  Sir  Tristam,  before  her 
marriage  in  1687,  made  a  secret  engagement 
with  Lord  Tyrone,  that  which  ever  should  die 
first  would  appear  to  the  other.  He  fulfilled  his 
promise  on  October  15th,  1693,  and  warned  her 
of  her  death  on  her  forty-eighth  birthday.  All 
was  kept  secret,  but  after  the  fated  day  had 
passed,  she  married  a  second  time,  and  appeared 
to  enter  on  a  new  lease  of  life.  Two  years  later, 
when  celebrating  her  birthday,  she  accidentally 
discovered  that  she  was  two  years  younger  than 
had  been  supposed,  and  expired  before  night. 
The  story  is  one  of  the  best  known  and  most 
interesting  in  ghost-lore. 

FANSHAWE,  LADY,  when  visiting  in  Ireland,  heard 
the  banshee  of  the  family  with  whom  she  was 
visiting,  one  of  whom  did  in  fact  die  during  the 
night.  She  also  relates  (in  her  "  Memoirs/'  p. 
28)  that  her  mother  once  lay  as  dead  for  two 
days  and  a  night.  On  her  return  to  life  she 
informed  those  about  her  that  she  had  asked  of 
twro  apparitions,  dressed  in  long,  white  gar- 
ments, for  leave,  like  Hezekiah,  to  live  for 
fifteen  years,  to  see  her  daughter  grow  up, 
and  that  it  was  granted.  She  died  in  fifteen 
years  from  that  time. 

MAIDSTONE  LADY,  saw  a  fly  of  fire  as  premonitory 
of  the  deaths — first,  of  her  husband,  who  died 
in  a  sea-fight  with  the  Dutch,  May  28th,  1672, 
and  second,  of  her  mother-in-law,  Lady  Win- 
chilsea. 

CHEDWORTH,  LORD,  was  visited  by  a  friend  and 
fellow-sceptic,  saying  he  had  died  that  night 


254  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

and  had  realised  the  existence  of  another  world. 
While  relating  the  vision  the  news  arrived  of  his 
friend's  death. 

RAMBOUIU,ET,  MARQUIS  OF,  had  just  the  same 
experience.  A  fellow-unbeliever,  his  cousin, 
the  Marquis  de  Precy ,  visited  him  in  Paris,  saying 
that  he  had  been  killed  in  battle  in  Flanders, 
and  predicting  his  cousin's  death  in  action, 
which  shortly  occurred  in  the  battle  of  the 
Faubourg  St.  Antoine.  (Quoted  by  Calmet  from 
"  Causes  Celebres,"  xi.  370.) 

LYTTI,ETON,  LORD  (third),  died  Nov.  27th,  1799, 
was  warned  of  his  death  three  days  earlier, 
and  exhorted  to  repentance.  The  story,  very 
widely  quoted,  first  appears  in  the  Gentleman's 
Magazine,  vol.  Ixxxv.  597.  He  also  himself 
appeared  to  Mr.  Andrews,  at  Dart  ford  Mills, 
who  was  expecting  a  visit  from  him  at  the  time. 

MIDDI<ETON,  LORD,  was  taken  prisoner  by  the 
Roundheads  after  the  battle  of  Worcester. 
While  in  prison  he  was  comforted  by  the  appar- 
ition of  the  laird  Bocconi,  whom  he  had  known 
while  trying  to  make  a  party  for  the  king  in 
Scotland,  and  who  assured  him  of  his  escape  in 
two  days,  which  occurred. 

BAI.CARRES,  LORD,  when  confined  in  Edinburgh 
Castle  on  suspicion  of  Jacobitism,  was  visited 
by  the  apparition  of  Viscount  Dundee — shot  at 
that  moment  at  Killiecrankie. 

HOU,AND,  LORD  (the  first),  who  was  taken  prisoner 
at  the  battle  of  St.  Neot's  in  1624,  is  said  still 
to  haunt  Holland  House,  dressed  in  the  cap 
and  clothes  in  which  he  was  executed. 


APPENDIX  255 

MONTGOMERY,  COUNT  OF,  was  warned  by  an 
apparition  to  flee  from  Paris,  and  thus  escaped 
the  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholemew.  (See  Coligni.) 

SHELBURNE,  LORD,  eldest  son  of  the  Marquis  of 
Lansdowne,  is  said,  in  Mrs.  Schimmelpenninck's 
Memoirs,  to  have  had,  when  five  years  old,  a 
premonitory  vision  of  his  own  funeral,  with  full 
details  as  to  stoppages,  etc.  Dr.  Priestley  was 
sent  for,  and  treated  the  child  for  slight  fever. 
When  about  to  visit  his  patient  (whom  he  ex- 
pected to  find  recovered)  a  few  days  later,  he 
met  the  child  running  bare-headed  in  the  snow. 
When  he  approached  to  rebuke  him  the  figure 
disappeared,  and  he  found  that  the  boy  had 
died  at  the  moment.  The  funeral  was  arranged 
by  the  father — then  at  a  distance — exactly 
in  accordance  with  the  premonition. 

EGUNTON,  LORD,  was  three  times  warned  of  his 
death  by  the  apparition  of  the  family  ghost, 
the  Bodach  Glas — the  dark-grey  man.  The 
last  appearance  was  when  he  was  playing  golf 
on  the  links  at  St.  Andrews,  October  4th,  1861. 
He  died  before  night. 

CORNWALL,  THE  DUKE  OF,  in  1100,  saw  the  spectre 
of  William  Rufus  pierced  by  an  arrow  and 
dragged  by  the  devil  in  the  form  of  a  buck,  on 
the  same  day  that  he  was  killed.  (Story  told 
in  the  "  Chronicle  of  Matthew  Paris/') 

CHESTERFIELD,  EARL  OF  (second),  in  1652,  saw, 
on  waking,  a  spectre  with  long  white  robes  and 
black  face.  Accepting  it  as  intimation  of  some 
illness  of  his  wife,  then  visiting  her  father  at 
Networth,  he  set  off  early  to  inquire,  and  met 


256  REAI,  GHOST  STORIES 

a  servant  with  a  letter  from  Lady  Chesterfield, 
describing  the  same  apparition. 

MOHUN,  LORD,  killed  in  a  duel  in  Chelsea  Fields, 
appeared  at  the  moment  of  his  death,  in  1642, 
to  a  lady  in  James's  Street,  Covent  Garden, 
and  also  to  the  sister  (and  her  maid)  of  Glanvil 
(author  of  "  Sadducismus  Triumphatus  "). 

SWIFTE,  EDMUND  LENTHAI,,  keeper  of  the  Crown 
jewels  from  1814,  himself  relates  (in  Notes  and 
Queries,  1860,  p.  192)  the  appearance,  in  Anne 
Boleyn's  chamber  in  the  Tower,  of  "  a  cylin- 
drical figure  like  a  glass  tube,  hovering  between 
the  table  and  the  ceiling  "  -visible  to  himself 
and  his  wife,  but  not  to  others  present. 


vAflnAOiv  •  u^^yvv 

Au)r.      Q^MJ^- 


-  i 

4#Hu^^  mjbU  l^V-^x   ) 


W  MATE  &  SONS  (1919)  I.TD.,  BOURNEMOUTH. 


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,OCT25  1973 


NOV2 


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iii 

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U.C.  BERKELEY  LIBRARIES 


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